


The Man Who Regrets ▹ Doctor Who [1]

by animechey



Series: The Lady of Time Saga [1]
Category: Doctor Who & Related Fandoms, Torchwood
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-09-22
Updated: 2019-09-22
Packaged: 2019-11-26 21:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 61
Words: 68,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18186077
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/animechey/pseuds/animechey
Summary: regret/rɪˈɡrɛt/verbfeel sad, repentant, or disappointed over (something that one has done or failed to do).nouna feeling of sadness, repentance, or disappointment over an occurrence or something that one has done or failed to do.





	1. 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

She's always wanted to travel.

He needs a companion.

There are worlds waiting.

There are people in their way.

© Chey Eveleigh | 2018

Book One of the Lady of Time Series

Started: October 15th, 2018  
Finished: May 26th, 2019


	2. 𝔸𝕓𝕠𝕦𝕥 𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕊𝕖𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕤

**Hey, all.**

**So, after I began writing chapter 37 of this story, I thought I better give all my readers some information about this series so I don't have people making a big fuss about some of the things I've written, or am going to write, for this series.**

_**1) Violet:** _

**S** **he _is_ half Gallifreyan, like I say within the first three or four chapters, but she’s not entirely the same as the Doctor or River, or even ** **Jenny (the Doctor’s daughter)** **. Violet can choose to change her appearance if and when she Regenerates, or she can have a random part of her body replaced when she Regenerates.**

 

**Also, this is something I'm actually really hesitant to tell you all, but I think it'd help you understand why I've written my OC like I have. Violet's character, personality and decisions are actually based off me and my experiences, as well as some of my friends. So, uh, take from that what you will, and try to keep the criticism to a minimum please.**

_**2) Relationships:** _

**This is what I'm probably the most worried about concerning this story. If you've taken notice of the relationships listed in the story information box (or whatever it's called), then you'll know that Violet has multiple relationships with multiple people, and they're all basically at the same time due to this being a story about time travel.**

**Let's all just forget about what is perceived as 'right' and 'wrong' or 'acceptable' and 'unacceptable' whilst reading this story, because there's a lot of different relationships for Violet, Jack - and even the Doctor. It's a great big mess that might be kinda difficult to understand and take in, but the relationship aspect of this story is meant to be very fucking complex.**

**If anyone else has any more concerns or questions, just let me know and I'll explain them on here.**

**\- Chey xo -**


	3. 𝔹𝕠𝕠𝕜 ℂ𝕒𝕤𝕥

**Angourie Rice | Violet Jones | Lady Adrenilda**

**David Tennant | the Tenth Doctor**

**John Barrowman | Captain Jack Harkness**

**Gareth David-Lloyd | Ianto Jones**

**Billie Piper | Rose Tyler**

**Freema Agyeman | Martha Jones**

**Catherine Tate | Donna Noble**

**John Simm | the Master**

**Alex Kingston | River Song | Melody Pond**

**_Introducing:_ **

**Matt Smith | the Eleventh Doctor**


	4. 𝟘𝟘𝟘 ▹ ℙ𝕣𝕖𝕧𝕚𝕖𝕨

Opening the doors of the TARDIS, Violet stares out at the multi-million stars with wonder, almost disbelieving the reality before her very eyes. Moving to stand beside her, Rose looks out over the endless expanse with a soft smile. Behind them, the Doctor watches the two girls with soft eyes, his hearts thudding softly in his chest, and his breath almost getting caught in his throat as his feelings for them blossom and grow within the hearts. He thought there’d only be Rose, but, ever since the first moment Violet boarded the TARDIS almost a year ago and it spoke to her, he found himself falling - plummeting really.

Violet feels his eyes on her and looks over her shoulder with a soft smile, which he reciprocates as she turns back to the stars, her blue eyes lingering on Rose for a second. It’s no secret that the teenager isn’t what people on Earth would call ‘straight’, and she’s long since accepted that fact. Ever since she met Jack Harkness mere years before the Doctor and Rose turned up - and went on a few adventures with the Time Traveller - Violet has been educated on the attraction to what Humans denote as ‘aliens’. That, in turn, lead to Jack calling her ‘omnisexual’ - the attraction to any gender and any species.

Sometimes, the young girl misses the small adventures she had, and the friends she made from the Time Agency and  _ Torchwood _ . Despite that, travelling with the Doctor for the past year has made that hole in her heart slowly begin to fill. Anyway, she knows that she will meet Jack again soon. After all, they did almost run into their other selves - her future self and his past self. Well, then again, that could have also been his future self in a way, but his timeline is too confusing for her to follow.

Violet is attracted to Jack - I mean, who isn’t? - but she’s not exactly sure if it’s a physical or psychological or emotional attraction. It’s a similar attraction as to what she has towards the Doctor and Rose, but a little bit lower on the scale. Violet knows for a fact that the captain is attracted to her - for what reason, she isn’t sure - but there can be no doubt about it. Who knows, maybe something will come of the attractions and feelings she has for the three time travellers - one Time Lord, two Human.


	5. 𝔻𝕖𝕤𝕔𝕣𝕚𝕡𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟

Violet looks out her bedroom window, wistful eyes moving over the rolling hills in the distance and the rise and fall of buildings in the foreground. She wants to know what exists outside her home in the rural area of Australia, but she knows that, without a doubt, she will be stuck here forever. The bickering of her mother and younger brothers can be heard from the opposite side of the house - just like every other day. Sighing, the teenager rests her head on her arm, wishing for someone to come and take her away from her mundane life.

Laughing humourlessly, Violet tears herself away from the window. “Keep dreaming, Vi. No one is ever going to take a freak like you away.”

You see, ever since she was born, Violet has had mental health ‘issues’ that have prevented her from living and loving her life - and her family life is almost as messed up as she is inside.

Her biological father lives an hour away, but can’t be bothered to contact her in any way, shape or form. He has a son with another woman.

Her step-father is an alcoholic and drug addict who has more problems than she can count, and who has caused her family considerable issues. He is the father of two of her younger brothers, and has two other children that her and her siblings are aware of.

Her mother is forced to raise three children on her own due to all the men in her life being deadbeats. She relies on her mother and father a little to help - and to have some sort of father figure in her children’s lives.

Her brothers are the least affected by the turbulence of their lives.

Violet has developed severe anxiety disorders and depression; separation anxiety and dissociative identity disorder; self-harm and suicidal thoughts. Her life is one mess after another, and there is no such thing as a stable relationship of any kind in her life - except maybe with her mother, and her mother’s parents.

Before she closes her blind to cut off her imagination of a world far from here, a flashing blue light catches her attention in the increasing darkness after the sun dips below the mountains. Her face almost pressed against the glass of her window, her blue eyes widen considerably as a 1960′s Public Call Police Box appears across the street, fading in and out of visibility until it becomes a solid form. Letting out a sharp gasp of shock, Violet darts away from the window and out the front door of her almost as old home.

Running across the street with little care of her wellbeing, the teenager slows to a stop in front of the legendary box, blue eyes flickering over the wooden exterior. “There’s no way...”

She’d heard stories come from Britain and America about the mysterious blue box that popped up many times in their histories, but she never thought she’d be able to see it for herself. Inside, it was meant to be bigger, and it was meant to hold the man who had much mystery hovering about him. He was said to be over 900-years-old and have travelled to the stars and back, always returning to this little planet to help them progress and evolve.

A creak fills Violet’s ears and her eyes widen as the door swings open, revealing a man in a brown suit and an almost caramel trench coat. His brown hair sticks up and appears as though it has not been brushed, and his brown eyes glimmer with excitement as they take in the small town around him. The instant he meets Violet’s eyes, he steps out of the blue box and holds up his psychic paper. Words flicker over the paper in the teenager’s handwriting, asking for someone to take her away.

“Were you the one who sent this message?” the man asks, a gleeful grin spreading across his face.


	6. 𝟘𝟘𝟚 ▹ 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕡𝕒𝕔𝕖

Before she can respond, a blonde girl steps out from behind the man, her brown eyes looking around with wonder before looking at Violet, surprised. “Who are you?”

Violet shies away from the pair at the abrupt questions. “I-I’m Violet. I-It’s nice to m-meet you.”

The man shoves his psychic paper back into the pocket of his trench coat and leans against the blue box, looking over at the blonde. “She sent the message.”

The blonde nods and gives the teenager a smile. “I’m Rose. Nice to meet you. How old are you?”

“Eighteen,” Violet replies hesitantly, not sure what to think of this encounter and the almost prying questions.

“Two years younger than me.”

“Well then, let’s get going, shall we?” the man suggests, almost skipping into the blue box, leaving Rose and Violet to walk into the box themselves.

The blonde follows the suit-clad man into the box, motioning with her hand for Violet to follow, but the younger girl hesitates for a second, glancing back over her shoulder to the old house she lives in. Shrugging, the teen hurries into the blue box, a grin instantly spreading across her young face as she clambers up the stairs and spins as she attempts to take in every inch of the console room, giddiness blossoming to life and churning in her abdominal area, and spilling free from her lips in the form of an excited giggle.

Peering around the console, she sees delight in the Time Lord’s honey brown eyes as he flips a switch and grins at both Violet and Rose. The blonde lets out a laugh and runs around the console, following the brunette man as he rushes around, pressing buttons, flicking switches and turning knobs. Running her hand along the console, Violet feels the energy within in thrum and hum, a tingling sensation moving up her arm and throughout the rest of her body.

Words fill her mind - no, they’re more like instructions. Violet smiles up at the tube and begins to fiddle with the contraptions, much to the confusion and wonder of the Doctor, not entirely sure of how to take this. Violet murmurs words under her breath in a language he hasn’t heard for centuries, and the TARDIS makes noises in response, making the teenager laugh in response and reply with something along the lines of “you stole  _this_ Time Lord for  _fun_?” that makes the Doctor raise an eyebrow.

“You have an interesting TARDIS, Doctor,” Violet teases as the pull the final lever and the time machine begins to dematerialise, causing Rose and the Time Lord to take hold of the console, the latter yelling out “allons-y” as he does so. “She has quite the sense of humour.”

“How can you even understand what it’s saying?” Rose exclaims, a wild grin on her face as they’re all thrown about due to Violet deliberately leaving the stabilisers off. “It sounds like a bunch of groans to me.”

The TARDIS draws to abrupt stop and the three fall to the floor, Rose and Violet laughing a moment later at the baffled expression on the Doctor’s face. Jumping to her feet, Violet skips to the doors and pull them open, revealing the rolling green plains of North Scotland during the 18th century - a place she has always wanted to visit after watching  _Outlander_.

“That’s a very good question,” the Doctor adds, straightening up and checking the screen hovering above the console. “Another is why we’re in 18th century Scotland when there’s a war going on.”


	7. 𝟘𝟘𝟛 ▹ 𝕊𝕔𝕠𝕥𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕, 𝟙𝟟𝟜𝟘

Violet’s blue eyes are filled with delight as they follow the terrain, and her body seems to tingle with an unknown energy as she steps onto the grass. Whilst she is enjoying this, the eighteen-year-old does know that it is best she dress for the century before someone sees her. Returning to the blue box, she’s met with the 900-year-old Time Lord’s prying eyes and a blonde with a time period-appropriate outfit slung over her arm, and the brunette female knows she’s not going to be able to answer his questions.

“Listen, I don’t have the answers you’re searching for, and I’m sorry about that,” Violet murmurs, twisting her fingers and scraping her nails across the backs of her hands. “I don’t know why the TARDIS can speak to me and I can understand her, but I just can. I know that I’m not much help, but it’s the best I can tell you, Doctor.”

“I’ll trust you about this for now, Violet,” the man says, walking towards her. “But, soon enough, you’ll give me the answers I need - in one way or another. For now though, I suggest you and Rose go change. It wouldn’t do well for two girls to be running around in practically nothing in the 18th century.”

Violet and Rose laugh happily and hurry to the large wardrobe filled with too many articles of clothing to count. Feeling sick seeing the large quantity, the young girl pulls out a tan and white 1770’s dress and admires it, a smile appearing on her face as she shakes her head in disbelief. Stripping off her jeans, boots and band shirt, Violet pulls on the outfit layer-by-layer, glad that the corset isn’t an  _actual_ corset, but instead has a zip on the front.

Wrapped snugly in the dress, Violet turns to see Rose in an off-white dress similar to hers, and her lips part in wonder, admiring the older girl as she struggles to put her hair up. Walking over, Violet takes hold of Rose’s hair and winds it into bun, sticking in several bobby pins to keep it in place before pulling her own hair back, leaving a few strands free to frame her pale face.

The blonde turns and smiles her thanks. “How’d you know how to do that?”

Violet shrugs. “Too many 18th century shows, probably. I adore this era, but it’s bloodshed and war are not something I’d like to experience.” Well, not again, she adds silently. “They’re horrific.”

“Well, we’ll just have to stay away from it then, right?”

“Yeah, and you need to get rid of your makeup. It’s the 1700 hundreds, Rose - they don’t have makeup like yours quite yet.”

Leaving the blonde to clear her face, the brunette heads out of the time machine to stand beside the Doctor as his old eyes take in the view. Bumping her hip against him, she grins up at him as he looks down, unable to prevent the disbelief and awe from gracing his face. His lips part, but he’s unable to say anything, making the teenager snicker and roll her eyes, sticking her tongue out childishly and running away. Without hesitation, the older man follows her, at first not enjoying it, but soon laughing along with the free-spirited wild-hearted girl.

Soon enough, there’s three of them running around the Highlands, laughing as they’re appearing to be playing a game of tag like children would. It’s enough to draw the attention of passing British soldiers, and they’re soon face-to-face with several men and their guns, Violet and Rose hovering behind the Doctor as he explains the situation, the two girls having contrasting emotions at a moment like this: Rose being apprehensive of them and slightly fearful, while Violet is brimming with excitement and delight due to having the chance to experience another part of 18th century Scotland.

By the time the sun is setting on the horizon, Violet is sitting on a hill watching as it slowly sinks below the dark mounds in the distance. Brilliant oranges and pinks and purples and blues burn in the sky and bathe the valleys in a golden light. It’s like a painting come to life, and she wishes there were a way to capture this moment forever right now, but it’d be a bad decision to pull out her iPhone to take a photo right now.

The shuffling of grass beside her makes her look over to the Time Lord now seated there, brown suit appearing almost honey coloured in the remaining light of the day, and tousled chestnut hair wild atop his head, honey brown eyes seeming to burn with the Time Vortex. Smiling softly, the blue-eyed girl turns her gaze back to the fleeting sunlight and tilts her head to the side as the ball of gas dips below the mountains and out of view, slight sadness covering her at having missed it all.

“I want to try something,” the man beside her informs, making her tense, having a feeling that she knows what it is that he is about to attempt. “Are you willing to let me in, Violet?”

“You want to see my memories,” she breathes, staring down at the now dark and cold grass beneath her. “You want to figure out why I can do what I can - even though it’s only been a few hours since I’ve been aboard the TARDIS.”

“Yes.” He turns to face her, brown eyes searching. “Will you let me?”

Briefly closing her eyes, she manoeuvres her own body to face him. “You might not like what you see, Doctor. You’ve seen many things, but there are many things you have yet to see, and there are things that are hard to see.”

“I know.”

“Then, go ahead. If you’re prepared.”


	8. 𝟘𝟘𝟜 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕣𝕦𝕥𝕙 𝕎𝕚𝕥𝕙𝕚𝕟 ℍ𝕖𝕣

Placing his hands on the sides of Violet's face, he closes his eyes, Violet following suit after seeing the crease between his eyebrows showing his concentration. It feels strange to have someone inside her mind again, and she has to fight the urge to block him out despite the fact that he means her no harm. Forcing herself to relax, she sees her memories flash behind her closed eyes, and some of them make her body seize up, instinctively fighting against the Doctor's intrusion.

There's blood - and a lot of it. Hers, her friends', her mother's. It paints a picture of the horrors of her childhood, and the reason for her current state. It gives reason for how twisted and broken she is; for someone born in a war. There's also blood that is of no relation to her; the blood of complete strangers from centuries and decades past and future - numerous wars she fought when she was only fifteen to sixteen years old, and the lives she ended fighting for what was right.

Memories of her childhood are laced with few bittersweet moments, but full of pain and suffering that no child should ever have to endure - that no one should ever have to endure no matter how twisted they may be. So much blood and abuse - physical and mental - from both friends and family as well as strangers who knew nothing about her. Violet flinches each time a loud noise sounds within her mind, and memories of people screaming at her flood her mind, drowning both herself and the Doctor.

The day she turned fifteen, a man appeared and told her she could escape it all - that he could take her away from everything for as long as she wanted. She readily agreed, taking his hand and warping to the future, to the past, and to the present without failure; fighting wars and saving lives, being someone she wants to be, and not being a broken toy with nowhere to go and nothing to do. She aged and loved and lived, but, when it came time to die, she was reborn from Time Energy.

Several lifetimes passed her by, and she continued to live and stay with the man she had begun to love in a more romantic way, and maybe even a little sexually, but she'd never admit that to him, or anyone or anything in the whole of reality. Time passed and she began to miss her home, much to both his and her sadness, but he knew she wouldn't stay with him forever, and that he had to return to  _Torchwood_  sooner or later.

So, he dropped her off home only mere hours after they had left what felt like millennia ago, and the last she saw of him was the sadness in his blue eyes and the warm smile on his face as he warped to a time different to hers. Violet was left to pick up the pieces of her shattered life on her own, but at least she knew what was to come when it concerned her family.

The man didn't leave her though. He watched over her from the past through thick and thin, wishing that he could be there for her, but adhering to her final wish of not seeing the man again unless it was absolutely necessary. She knew he watched over her, and she was - is - grateful for him doing so, but knowing how hard it would be for him, only because it was for her to let him go in the first place, made it worse for her to have knowledge of.

Eyes flying open, Violet pulls out of the Doctor's hold and sucks in sharp, rapid breaths leaving her parted lips, and torrential tears streaking down her pale face. "Oh my god..."

The Doctor's honey brown eyes open and stare right at her, disbelieving what he's seeing before him. "You're half Gallifreyan, but that's impossible."


	9. 𝟘𝟘𝟝 ▹ 𝔻𝕠𝕠𝕞𝕤𝕕𝕒𝕪

**_Several Days Later in Rose’s time, after Travelling Hundreds of Years into the Future for a year_ **

Violet had heard rumours about this day when she was travelling with another time traveller, but she never thought she'd see the day where the Doctor would lose the woman he loves - one of them at least. She's seen the list of the dead, and she's not entirely sure if she wants to be here to witness how the young British girl dies. Currently in the thick of it, the young Australian can't help but feel sick knowing what is to come, and not having told the Doctor.

Daleks and Cybermen are flooding the building, the skies, and the city below, and Violet is almost trembling in her boots at the former after hearing how one of them killed Jack. It's a mixture of fear and hatred consuming her, and she's not sure what it is she can do with it in this instance. To be quite honest, she wants to kill all of them, but she knows that it's near impossible to kill a Dalek - let alone a thousand of them. It's making her wish that Jack is here with her.

Surrounded by complete strangers she knows only by name, the half Gallifreyan is feeling her anxiety rise to new levels. Instinctively, she goes through their names in her head.  _Doctor. Rose. Mickey. Jackie. Pete._  However, it doesn't work, and she finds herself becoming short of breath, eyes squeezing shut as she backs into a wall, sliding down to the floor and tangling her fingers into her hair, almost ripping it from her scalp with how tight she holds it. Her hearing becomes distorted, and she can no longer make out the words being spoken; the plan that the Doctor and the others are coming up with to rid themselves of the Daleks and Cybermen.

A panicked rendition of her name suddenly cuts through the distortion. "Violet!"

Dazed blue eyes flickering up, she looks into the worried eyes of one of the two men she's come to love over the years. "I'm alright... Promise..."

"You're not fine. I need you to breathe, alright?"

"Just do it... Send them...to the Void. I'll be fine..."

She sees the look in his eyes and shakes her head, saying something in the ancient language only the two of them know that comes across as garbled sounds to the others in the room. He lets out a sharp sound of amusement and moves away from the young Australian, heading back over to the others. Violet bows her head once again and tries to regulate her stuttered breathing, her mind flashing with memories of moments gone by that she'd rather forget.

Faintly, beyond the sound of rushing blood in her ears, she can hear the Doctor, Rose and the others arguing. He'd have to be begging Rose to go with the others back to the other world for something on this scale to be happening, but, just as Violet is about to say something, she looks up and witnesses Rose and the four others vanishing. Eyes widening, she clambers to her feet, staggering over to stand next to the Time Lord, itching to take hold of his hand for comfort.

Rose reappears within seconds, much to the Doctor's despair, but he allows her to stay - albeit reluctantly, Violet must admit. Entering what she's told on the computer, Violet watches through hooded blue eyes as Rose and the Doctor push the levers, opening the void between the worlds and sucking in everything that is covered in the "void stuff." Due to not having crossed into a parallel word, Violet remains stationary as the Daleks and Cybermen are sucked into the void, Rose and the Doctor clinging to magnetised clamps for their lives.

Then everything happens too quickly.

One second everything is working, and then a lever is moving back. Violet watches with horror as Rose moves to fix it, and the Doctor yells for her, face contorted into one of fear and anguish, and desperation. The blonde slips and flies toward the void, but, just in the nic of time, Pete appears and catches his not-so-daughter before going back to the other world just as the door between this world and that one close forever. The Doctor walks to the blank wall before him, and Violet's lips part in a silent scream, tears torrential down her face as her eyes squeeze tightly shut.

Now she knows how the Doctor loses Rose, but she also knows that it is not just the man with ancient eyes - but also everyone who loves her in this world: Jack, Violet, her friends, and everyone else whose lives she has touched in her travels.


	10. 𝟘𝟘𝟞 ▹ 𝔻å𝕣𝕝𝕚𝕘 𝕌𝕝𝕧 𝕊𝕥𝕣𝕒𝕟𝕕𝕖𝕟

Violet lets the Time Lord say a final goodbye to the blonde girl trapped in a parallel world - burning up a sun just to do so. Instead of listening to the conversation, the young half Gallifreyan allows herself to be swept away into her mind of ancient memories; to be cocooned by the memory of the three of them only yesterday, but hundreds of years in the future.

_Opening the doors of the TARDIS, Violet stares out at the multi-million stars with wonder, almost disbelieving the reality before her very eyes. Moving to stand beside her, Rose looks out over the endless expanse with a soft smile. Behind them, the Doctor watches the two girls with soft eyes, his hearts thudding softly in his chest, and his breath almost getting caught in his throat as his feelings for them blossom and grow within the hearts. He thought there'd only be Rose, but, ever since the first moment Violet boarded the TARDIS almost a year ago and it spoke to her, he found himself falling - plummeting really._

_Violet feels his eyes on her and looks over her shoulder with a soft smile, which he reciprocates as she turns back to the stars, her blue eyes lingering on Rose for a second. It's no secret that the teenager isn't what people on Earth would call "straight," and she's long since accepted that fact. Ever since she met Jack Harkness mere years before the Doctor and Rose turned up - and went on a few adventures with the time traveller - Violet has been educated on the attraction to what Humans denote as "aliens." That, in turn, lead to Jack calling her "omnisexual" - the attraction to any gender and any species._

_Sometimes, the young girl misses the small adventures she had, and the friends she made from the Time Agency and_ Torchwood _. Despite that, travelling with the Doctor for the past year has made that hole in her heart slowly begin to fill. Anyway, she knows that she will meet Jack again soon. After all, they did almost run into their other selves - her future self and his past self. Well, then again, that could have also been his future self in a way, but his timeline is too confusing for her to follow._

_Violet is attracted to Jack - I mean, who isn't? - but she's not exactly sure if it's a physical or psychological or emotional attraction. It's a similar attraction as to what she has towards the Doctor and Rose, but a little bit higher on the scale. Violet knows for a fact that the captain is attracted to her - for what reason, she isn't sure - but there can be no doubt about it. Who knows, maybe something will come of the attractions and feelings she has for the three time travellers - one Time Lord, two Human._

"I... I love you," Rose sobs, breaking Violet from her memory and making her look over to the older blonde. Her warm brown eyes are clouded with heartbreak and misery, flooded with crystalline tears and burning with determination to say what she wants to.

"And, I suppose, if this is the only chance I get to say it," the Doctor muses softly, making Violet's eyes burn with tears for the man with ancient eyes. "Rose Tyler-"

The transmission cuts off just before the Time Lord can speak those three little words, and they're all left in silence: Violet's lips parting in horror and her knees giving out beneath her, sending her to the ground; the Doctor letting his own, single tear fall, lips still poised to say those words, but not able to due to Rose not being there anymore. As for the blonde, she's left on the beach with her parents and Mickey, and a secret she will carry to the grave - Violet being the only other one to know of it, and not being in any way inclined to tell anyone at all. It's a sad ending for them all, and it's broken more than its fair share of hearts.

He silently walks around the console, glumly pressing buttons and flicking switches and twisting knobs, and helps Violet to her feet, holding her gently, knowing that the young half Gallifreyan loved Rose almost as much as he did, and never got to show or tell the blonde. Forcing her tears back, the teen pulls herself free from the older man's hold and walks away.

Well, she goes to, but, instead, freezes in mid-motion, blue eyes wide and disbelieving. "What the...?"

The Doctor looks up and his face screws up in confusion. "What?"

A red-haired woman in her wedding dress turns around and faces the two. "What the hell is going on?"

"What?!"


	11. 𝟘𝟘𝟟 ▹ 𝕍𝕚𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕥 𝕚𝕤 𝕒 ℕ𝕚𝕔𝕖 𝕊𝕙𝕒𝕕𝕖

Let's just say that the past few weeks have been difficult on the Doctor. Even though he refuses to let on that he is mourning Rose, Violet knows the man better than he thinks. So, she makes him a cup of tea every evening and leaves him to do what he wants as she wanders around the TARDIS, memorising the layout and feeling strangely nostalgic even though she's never been in one before. In time, she re-finds the bedrooms situated near the main console room, and, this time, one of the doors is locked; the door to Rose's room.

Violet pauses in front of the room she knows to be the Doctor's and knocks, not knowing if the man in question is inside. Getting no response, she turns the knob and gently pushes the door open, blue eyes zeroing in on the slumped form of the Doctor seated on the bed. Walking over to the older man, Violet sits behind him, her back against his and her head against the back of his neck. She feels him shift against her, but he doesn't push her away.

"Talk to me, Doctor," Violet murmurs pleadingly, her voice pained. Closing her eyes, she quells her desire to shake the older Time Lord. "Please open up to me - don't shut me out."

"What do you want me to say, Violet?" he all but growls at the younger girl, but instantly regrets the harshness. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you."

"It's fine, but it's a sure sign that  _you're_  not fine. I know how you feel, but you can't keep it all bottled up inside, or you'll explode and take whoever surrounds you along with you - that'd be me, mister."

"You don't even seem affected by what happened."

"Compartmentalisation. It's something I've had to do for a long time - centuries even - and it's a hard habit to break; if it can even be broken in the first place. While it's true that I do break down occasionally, I tend not to do so unless in extreme circumstances - like when Rose got trapped in that other world."

"I get it. What about now? What do you feel now?"

Violet hesitates in answering this soul-baring question, moving from where she's seated behind the Doctor, she shuffles up the bed towards the pillows, making him look over at her with dark eyes. Her tongue darts out to wet her dry lips, and she attempts to speak, but no words or sounds leave her mouth, her brow furrowing in distress and hesitation. A hand lands on hers, and Violet looks up to see the encouraging eyes of the other member of her species.

"Right now, I feel so unbelievably scared, and I don't think that's ever going away. I feel alone, and I miss Jack and Rose so much - and everyone else I ever met and became friends with over the centuries. I just want to feel happy and loved and safe, but all I feel is empty from the losses. I want to be loved by the ones I love; like the way I love them. I'm so scared of being abandoned by them, Doctor."

The Time Lord carefully pulls her into a hug, head tucked under his chin and his hands on her back. "It's alright to be scared, Violet, and it's alright to want to be loved in return."

Violet shakes her head and pulls away from the man. "You are loved in return, though. Rose loves you back, Doctor."

"I know, but she's in another world. Also, she's not the one I'm talking about."

The half Gallifreyan's eyes widen and she jumps off the bed, backing away from her elder as he stands and follows her. "Stop. You're not thinking clearly; you're still in mourning, and acting on the turbulent emotions within you. Don't do this. You'll regret it."

Before more desperate pleas can leave her lips, his descend on hers, silencing her quickly and quietly. A warmth spreads through her and Violet feels her body acting on its own accord, arms wrapping around his neck and her body moulding to his, his arms around her waist. The kiss is sweet, but with a hint of danger and desperation, and coated with mourning and loss.

Violet can taste everything, and it makes her stomach turn because she knows that half of it is hers riding alongside his.


	12. 𝟘𝟘𝟠 ▹ ℂ𝕠𝕟𝕧𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕒𝕥𝕚𝕠𝕟𝕤 𝕨𝕚𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕙𝕖 ℂ𝕒𝕡𝕥𝕒𝕚𝕟

"Violet," the familiar baritone voice of her old lover-slash-friend calls through her phone, his grinning face appearing on the screen, Ianto and Gwen in the distance behind him. "It's about time you picked up, little love."

"Hey, Jack," Violet murmurs, sitting on the floor of the console room, under the console. "I see you're back with  _Torchwood_  and all your friends. How's that been?"

"After spending years with you, it's boring. Wait. I recognise that. Are you in the TARDIS?"

"Yeah. I've been travelling with the Doctor for a year and a half now. It's fun, but I do miss all the years we spent together - and the years I was alone out there doing anything and everything while you were off doing jobs for  _Torchwood_."

"Where's the Doctor?"

Violet snickers. "He's on the moon - with a hospital, and most likely some kind of aliens. You know what he's like, Jacky Boy."

The man laughs, drawing the attention of Ianto. "That old man sure gets himself into trouble easily."

It feels like decades since they've had a chance to talk, and Violet has missed the company of the physically older male. They were together for almost two decades all up, travelling time and space, and not doing that leaves a gaping hole in ones heart. She felt abandoned when she returned home, despite knowing he kept tabs on her for the years they were apart, and she missed the feeling of being loved by someone of their own volition - not just because you're blood related.

They regale stories off the old days, and days only recently past, but neither mention what happened only days ago for Violet. She isn't sure what year he's in, or what he knows, so she's not entirely sure what exactly can be told to the time traveller. Listening to his voice makes her mind wander back to the planet called Midnight, and how beautiful and entrancing it was - and that which occurred there all those years in the future, but truly only years ago in Violet's true timeline.

Snapped from her thoughts and memories by the door to the TARDIS opening and closing, she hears Jack go quiet, something similar to delight glinting in his baby blue eyes. Giving him a warning look, Violet looks up to see the Doctor running around before dematerialising, going back to the past by the sounds of things, and then running out the doors again - only to return a moment later and head back to the future, running from the time machine again.

Violet looks back at the screen of her phone and smiles. "Gotta go, Jacky Boy. Call me again tomorrow, would you? I've still got something to tell you."

"Aww, come on, Vi," Jack teasingly pouts, eyes pleading. "Can't you tell me now? I'll send you something."

"Not going to happen."

"Well, there goes my plan to seduce it out of you."

She flushes. "That would have worked, which is why I'm hanging up now."

Jack grins and laughs, managing to wave goodbye before the mentally older girl ends the call, her own laughter echoing throughout the TARDIS as she climbs back up to the console, the time machine laughing in its own way as the Doctor and a darker-skinned woman walk into it. Violet goes still behind the console, out of sight, as the woman looks around in wonder before repeatedly entering and exiting the blue box, exclaiming how "it's not possible" and that it's "bigger on the inside."

Once it's over, the young Australian steps out from behind the console, almost giving the older woman a heart attack, her surprised yell echoing in the console room. Violet stares at the darker-skinned woman with blank eyes, assessing her, and the Doctor leans against the railing with his arms crossed over his chest, trying to hide the smirk coming to life at the expression on the newcomer's face.

"Who's this?" Violet asks, her voice flat and borderline uncaring, making the woman recoil. "Another one of your rejects, Doctor?"

"My name's Martha Jones," the woman informs, straightening up and giving off confidence that makes it difficult for Violet to keep a blank face. "I'm training to be a doctor."

"I know who you are, Martha Jones. I'm the Doctor's  _partner_."

The Doctor laughs and everything shatters, a cheeky grin appearing on Violet's face as her own laughter bubbles free from her lips. Her hands slap against the edge of the console as she doubles over in her laughter, eyes closing and tears of laughter beginning to accumulate within them. She attempts to reattain a normal breathing pattern as she stands a moment later, grinning at the confused Martha Jones standing in front of her.

"I'm sorry, Martha," Violet snickers, wiping her eyes. "I just  _had_  to do that." Then she turns completely serious. "But, I am his partner in all of this, so be warned. Alright?" A grin spreads across her face at the final word. "My name's Violet, and I'm a half alien - the same as the Doctor."


	13. 𝟘𝟘𝟡 ▹ 𝟝𝟙𝕤𝕥 ℂ𝕖𝕟𝕥𝕦𝕣𝕪 𝕄𝕖𝕕𝕚𝕔𝕚𝕟𝕖

After visiting the Golden Globe centuries in the past, Violet can't think of anything better than heading to the future right now. They're heading to New New York on the planet New Earth in the year 5, 000, 000, 053. However, Violet knows what has become of the city, but she cannot tell the Doctor or Martha for it may change their futures. After all, time travel is a tricky thing, and even the smallest wrong step could have a cataclysmic effect for the future.

It takes what seems like forever to convince the Doctor to allow her to stay in the TARDIS, but the lying words "I've already been here with Jack" are quick to put an end to the argument, the older of her species grumbling some reply before walking out of the box to join Martha. Pulling down the screen, Violet presses some buttons and a feed shows up: the Doctor and Martha standing in an alleyway surrounded by nothing until the pop-up shops open.

Hitting more buttons, she keeps track of the two before walking to her room, closing the door and sitting on her bed, eyes drawn to the holographic photo of her, the Doctor and Rose only days before she got trapped in the other world. Digging her phone from her pocket, the half Gallifreyan calls Jack. While waiting for her call to go through, Violet lashes out, fist banging against the metal wall of her bedroom, and a sickening crunching noise sounding as Jack answers, his baby blue eyes wide with shock.

"Violet?" Her wild eyes turn to him, and he sees the utter destruction and agony in them, making the time traveller wish he was with her. "Tell me what's wrong, Vi."

She briefly closes her eyes before smiling and shaking her head, putting on one of her masks. "It's alright, Jacky Boy. Just built up tension and anger and annoyance. My skin's starting to itch again, and I'm twitchy."

"You don't have any more of that medicine, do you?"

"Well, I do, but it's back in my time. I didn't really have time to bring anything with me when the Doctor and Rose appeared out of nowhere and picked me up."

"I can get it for you, if you want." Jack's eyes dart to Violet's arms as she begins to scratch with blunt nails. "Scratch the "if you want." I'm getting it. Where are you, and where is it?"

Violet shifts uncomfortably, fisting her hands. "I'm in New New York, New Earth. Year 5, 000, 000, 053. It's in the top drawer of my bedside cupboard."

The call disconnects almost instantly and the tormented girl is left in silence, her mind terrorising her with memories of her past - both in her own time and in the future, well, past right now. Her skin itches more and she scrapes her nails back and forth over the skin, trying to find some release from the torture. Too caught up in her mind, she misses Jack entering her room in the TARDIS until he's gripping her wrists and preventing her from clawing her arms open. Looking up into his worried baby blue eyes, she feels calm begin to descend on her as a cold substance is injected into her body, and as she inhales Jack's 51st century pheromones.

Violet throws her arms around the older man's neck and his arms encase her lower back, both of them holding the other as tight as humanly possible, and maybe even a little tighter. She begins to cry, fingers digging into his shirt as her hands clutch at him, trying to eliminate any space remaining between them. If they were any closer, they'd be sharing skin, and Violet isn't sure if she wants to witness something like that again, but she just wants to be close to him and never let him go again.

"I've missed you so bloody much," Violet cries into his shoulder, her voice coming out muffled. Sniffling, she reluctantly pulls back and wipes her face with the tissue Jack hands her. "Thanks, Jacky Boy."

Jack smiles at her, and it has the undertone of a smirk. "I've missed your body, too, Vi."

"Shut up! That's not what I said, and you know it!"

"I know." He laughs before turning serious, right hand moving up to hold her face. "I've missed you too, Violet. More than you think."

"How much have you missed me?" She baulks at the sound of her voice; slightly raspy from having just cried her heart out. Clearing her throat, she smiles apologetically. "Sorry."

"Quite a lot, actually."

The smile on his face fades away as his blue eyes search hers for something, a flush appearing on her pale face. Finding it, he surges forward and kisses her, his addictive lips pulling her in without consent, but not against her will either. Returning the kiss, her hands move up to his short, brunet hair and tangle in it, his hands going to her hips and pulling her closer. No matter how many times she kisses this man, she's left breathless and wanting more; and no matter how many times she kisses him, that's as far as it's ever gone and will ever go.

Ripping her lips free from his, she sucks in air as he rests his forehead against hers. "That's some medicine, Jack. You sure there wasn't anything else in that?"

His lips quirk into a breathless, teasing smirk. "Maybe a little aphrodisiac."

"You would never."

"No."


	14. 𝟘𝟙𝟘 ▹ 𝕊𝕒𝕪𝕠𝕟𝕒𝕣𝕒, 𝕆𝕝𝕕 𝔽𝕣𝕚𝕖𝕟𝕕

Jack left Violet on the TARDIS not too long ago after giving her the 51st century medicine from her house, and more for when that runs out. That was almost an hour ago, and the young half-breed has been sitting alone in the blue box since then, waiting for Martha and the Doctor to finish up finding out about the Macra. Her patience has just about reached its limit, and her boredom is beginning to morph into an ugly beast.

Sighing, she picks up at atomising gun and straps it to her belt, locking the TARDIS with the key around her neck before wandering off into the desolate city, heading for the senate hall where she knows someone is going to die. It takes a longer amount of time than she expected, but she still reaches the hall before either the Doctor or Martha, finding the Face of Boe in the room surrounded by what remains of the senator people of New Earth.

Crouching down in front of the Face of Boe, Violet places her hand on the glass, her forehead following suit a moment later. "Hello, old friend. I'm not sure if we've met yet."

"We have met, Violet Jones," the voice echoing in her mind replies. "We met on the day the Earth died."

"I had forgotten about that. I travelled for centuries after that day, and my memories have begun to blur together over time. I've lived a hundred lives after all, but you know that, don't you,  _Jack_?"

He laughs, the familiar octaves resonating in her mind. "For a half human you are perceptive, and you pay attention, little love."

"Don't forget that I'm half Gallifreyan as well. Being perceptive comes with the territory."

Violet continues to talk with the Face of Boe - with  _Jack_ \- about  _Torchwood_ and Ianto until the Doctor and a cat woman appear in the hall. She listens to them talk, more like argue, until the lights are turned on, illuminating everything, including her and the glass tank in which what remains of Jack are held.

"Who's we?" the Doctor demands. "How did you survive?"

"He protected me," the cat woman informs. "And he has waited for you, these long years."

"Doctor," the Face of Boe greets, making Violet turn to witness the Doctor hurrying over to them.

"The Face of Boe," he exclaims, honey brown eyes wide with delight, but, as they move from his old friend to her, they turn confused. "Violet?"

"I knew you would come."

"Old friend, what happened to you?"

"Failing," he informs, sadness resonating in his voice and echoing throughout Violet's heart as she realises what she is about to witness - the death of her best friend and first love.

"He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke," the cat woman informs. "But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea.

"So he saved them," the Doctor deduces.

"The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running."

Violet watches and listens with her heart continuing to grow heavy. She doesn't want to be witnessing this, but she knows that she has no choice, and that it is what the older being wants - to be around his friends when he finally dies. Her eyes begin to burn as she rests her head against the glass of the Face of Boe's tank, her body beginning to quake as silent sobs threaten to become loud, painful sounds.

"Doctor."

"Yeah, hold on, not now."

"I give you my last... breath."

Power comes back to the mainframe and a cry leaves Violet as she watches her friends' eyes close, no more sounds of breathing coming from his mouth. The Doctor does what he has to and commands the cat woman - Hame - to care for the Face of Boe; to keep him alive. He sends a fleeting, worried look at Violet, knowing that the younger Time Lord knows who the Face of Boe is, but doesn't push it and continues on his way.

A giant crack appears in the tank and Violet flinches back as Hame calls for the Doctor. It shatters, and the three of them lower the Face of Boe - Jack, to Violet - to the ground, the half-breed cradling the giant head as best she can while the cat woman tends to him as best he can. The Doctor kneels beside his old friend and rests his hand on him. A little later, Martha runs in and sees all the skeletons, instantly horrified and thinking the worst.

"Doctor?"

"Over here," the Time Lord calls.

"Doctor! What happened out there?" The woman runs over and stops in her tracks. "What's that?"

"It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me."

"My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying," Hame murmurs.

"No, don't say that," the Doctor admonishes. "Not old Boe. Plenty of life left."

"It's good to breathe the air once more," the former Human muses, dark eyes glancing up to Violet's tear-stained face.

"Who is he?" Martha asks, crouching down.

"I don't even know," the Doctor informs, eyes flickering over to Violet. "Legend says the Face of Boe has lived for billions of years. Isn't that right? And you're not about to give up now."

"Everything has its time," the being reminds. "You know that, old friend, better than most."

"The legend says more," Hame states, making Violet bite back a snarl.

"Don't," the Doctor reprimands. "There's no need for that."

"It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller."

"Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?"

"I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you two are the last of yours, Doctor, and Violet."

"That's why we have to survive. All of us. Don't go."

"I must. But know this, Time Lord and Time Lady - you are not alone."

The Face of Boe lets out a final breath and his eyes slide closed. Hame weeps loudly, her head bowed and her shoulders shaking, and the Doctor bows his own head, eyes closing as he places his hand on the old friend dead on the floor before him. Martha watches on with sadness in her eyes, but it's Violet that is the most affected by his death. She screams out her misery and her head falls forward, hands coming up to cross over her chest as her body tilts forward, lips still parted in a silent scream, sound no longer escaping.

Violet curses the Face of Boe in a lost language that even the Doctor has trouble understanding - it was one that she and Jack learned centuries -  _no_ \- millennia ago when they travelled together. She repeatedly hits what remains of her friend and cries wordless sounds until hands encompass her wrists and pull her away from him, making her cry harder and fight her captor. That is, until she is wrapped in arms and held against a familiar chest.


	15. 𝟘𝟙𝟙 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕,𝟙𝟡𝟙𝟛 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

Violet sighs in boredom as she stares at the monitor, wishing she could be out there with the Doctor and Martha for this, but knowing that it is way too dangerous for her to even attempt such a thing. The Family of Blood is after the Doctor due to his Time Lord status, and they would only transfer to Violet if she were to walk out there despite her only being a half Gallifreyan. Whilst the Doctor can transfer his Time Lord self into a fob watch, Violet cannot as she's not a full Gallifreyan.

Tapping the edge of the screen to get a clear picture, Violet sees that the humanised Doctor is lying on a bed in an old-fashioned wood panelled room. A clock is ticking and there are voices in the corridor outside. He gets up, and there is a knock on the door.

"Come in," the Doctor calls.

Martha enters the room, carrying a breakfast tray and wearing maid's uniform complete with little cap. She turns her back when she sees the Doctor isn't fully dressed, and Violet snickers at the darker skinned woman's movements.

"Pardon me, Mister Smith," Martha apologises. "You're not dressed yet. I can come back later."

He puts on a dressing gown. "No, it's all right, it's all right. Put it down. I was er... Sorry, sorry. Sometimes I have these extraordinary dreams."

Martha puts the tray down on a table by the leather settee and draws the curtains. "What about, sir?"

"I dream I'm this adventurer. This daredevil, a madman. The Doctor, I'm called. And last night I dreamt that you were there, as my companion."

"A teacher and a housemaid, sir? That's impossible."

"I'm a man from another world, though."

"Well, it can't be true because there's no such thing."

"This thing. The watch is..." He picks up the ornate pocket watch from the mantle piece for a moment then puts it back. "Ah, it's funny how dreams slip away. But I do remember one thing; it all took place in the future. In the Year of Our Lord 2007."

"I can prove that wrong for you, sir. Here's the morning paper. It's Monday, November 10th, 1913, and you're completely human, sir. As Human as they come."

"Mmm, that's me. Completely Human." He takes a mouthful of his tea and Violet rolls her eyes.

Hours pass and the half-breed becomes even more bored, throwing a ball and waiting for the TARDIS to somehow get the ball back to her, or bouncing it off one of the walls and catching it repetitively. The time machine doesn't exactly like that and electrocutes Violet once or twice, warning her to stop.

The young girl groans and pulls out her communicator, finger hovering over Jack's contact. Giving in, she touches it and waits for the time traveller to answer, pulling her long, pale brown hair up into a ponytail and tying it just as Jack answers. His laugh is the first thing she hears, followed by him teasing her about her "turning into a Wookie" or something of the sort.

"I wish I was a Wookie right now," she grumbles. "At least then I wouldn't be stuck in the TARDIS waiting for the Doctor and Martha to defeat the Family of Blood and I can enjoy 1913 London."

"Alright, alright. Calm down, Violet."

She and Jack continue talking for what may well be hours as those at  _Torchwood_ wander about and do their daily jobs, never really calling on the 51st Century man for anything. However, they're broken from their conversation by a woman's voice saying: "a journal of impossible things." Violet clambers up from her seat and hurries over to the monitor, making it so Jack can see what she is seeing.

Lots of inky scrawl and pictures in a journal flash on the screen: a Dalek, The Moxx of Balhoon, Autons - labelled as plastic men, one of the Pompadour clockwork robots, Rose Tyler, Cybermen and the TARDIS - labelled magic box, sketches of earlier Doctors, and drawings of the pocket watch.

"Just look at these creatures," the matron murmurs. "Such imagination."

The Doctor smiles. "It's become quite a hobby."

"It's wonderful. And quite an eye for the pretty girls."

"Oh no, no, she's just an invention. This character, Rose - I call her Rose - seems to disappear later on. Ah, that's the box. The blue box. It's always there. Like a like a magic carpet. This funny little box that transports me to far away places."

"Like a doorway?"

"Mmm. I sometimes think how magical life would be if stories like this were true."

"If only."

"It's just a dream."

Violet feels her stomach twist and turn at him talking about Rose, and the half Gallifreyan has to fight the feeling of misery and loss welling up inside of her whilst Jack is on the line. The immortal time traveller appears to look at his friend out the corner of his eye, but, as she looks back over to him, she finds him watching the images on the screen.


	16. 𝟘𝟙𝟚 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕘𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕕, 𝟙𝟡𝟙𝟛 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

Violet has had to deal with Martha running in and out of the TARDIS several times in the past few hours, and she couldn't help but let her stomach drop at the words that leave the darker woman's lips the last time. However, Violet doesn't get much of a chance to get over that fact by the time the Father from the Family of Blood is standing outside the TARDIS as Martha and the matron talk.

"I know it sounds mad, but when the Doctor became Human, he took the alien part of himself and he stored it inside the watch," Martha explains. "It's not really a watch, it just looks like a watch."

The matron nods slowly. "And alien means not from abroad, I take it."

"The man you call John Smith, he was born on another world."

"A different species."

"Yeah.

"Then tell me. In this fairy tale, who are you?"

"Just a friend. I'm not. I mean, you haven't got a rival, as much as I might. Just his friend. "

"And Human, I take it?"

"Human. Don't worry. And more than that, I just don't follow him around. I'm training to be a doctor. Not an alien doctor, a proper doctor. A doctor of medicine."

"Well that certainly is nonsense. Women might train to be doctors, but hardly a skivvy and hardly one of your colour."

"Oh, do you think? Bones of the hand. Carpal bones, proximal row. Scaphoid, lunate, triquetral, pisiform. Distal row. Trapezium, trapezoid, capitate, hamate. Then the metacarpal bones extending in three distinct phalanges. Proximal, middle, distal."

"You read that in a book."

"Yes, to pass my exams. Can't you see this is true?"

Violet grits her teeth as the Father turns green and talks with the Mother, and Son of the Family of Blood, her hands gripping at the console of the TARDIS as her blue eyes burn with fire, staring at the monitor above the console. She changes it back to the school and is startled to find one of the school children with the fob watch Martha was searching for. She racks her mind for a name: Tim Latimer, the boy who will fight in the first world war alongside his comrades from this school.

Soon enough, scarecrows are carrying the TARDIS towards the school - and the Doctor and Martha. Inside, Violet cannot keep her footing as she goes tumbling to the ground, down the stairs and hitting her head hard against the wall as she comes to an abrupt stop, her neck snapping at the harsh contact. Her body is limp and lifeless at the base of the metal stairs as the TARDIS comes to its stop outside the school.

By the time her body gets around to healing itself, Martha and the Doctor are back in the TARDIS, the latter crouching next to Violet as her eyelids peel back to reveal a dull blue-grey in place of their usual lively sapphire blue. The half Gallifreyan lets out an "unladylike" groan and pushes herself up onto her elbows, blinking to rid herself of the blurry sheen covering her gaze, but coming to the realisation that her sight is no longer what it used to be.

"I think I'm going to need glasses," Violet laughs, looking over at the 900-year-old man beside her with amusement. "I've got different eyes this time around."

"So you did Regenerate," the brunet man muses. "I wasn't entirely certain if you were just passed out or dead, and the TARDIS couldn't either. Martha wasn't even sure, and she's training to be a doctor."

"I must have Regenerated for my eyes to be so bloody bad. Where are we anyway?"

"We're in Martha's time at a war memorial service."

"Latimer. Of course."

Violet forces herself up from where she's laying and clambers back up the stairs leading to the console, startling Martha at her sudden appearance. The darker-skinned woman is back in 21st Century appropriate clothes, a black blazer-type jacket over a red shirt in place her signature burgundy leather jacket, and a paper poppy pinned to her lapel. Violet smiles at the woman before rushing off to get some better clothes on, and out of the ones she has been forced to wear for days due to the TARDIS being in low-power mode.

She returns to the Doctor and Martha moments later, earning a wide-eyed look from the latter at her choice of clothing and a smile from the older being. Violet looks down at her grey and black 'ANZAC' hoodie with a paper poppy adorning the upper left area above on of her hearts, black skinny jeans and combat boots before returning her blue-grey gaze to the woman from a time before hers. With a small shrug, the half Time Lord makes her way from the blue box, the Doctor and Martha in tow as she heads over to the war memorial site.

A lady vicar is reading from For The Fallen, by Laurence Binyon. "They have no lot in our labour of the day time. They sleep beyond England's foam. They went with songs to the battle..."

Violet sees that Latimer is sitting in a wheelchair; an old soldier with his medals and the watch.

"They were young, straight of limb, true of eye, steady and aglow. They were staunch to the end against odds uncounted..."

He looks across the grass to where Martha is pinning a poppy to the Doctor's lapel.

"They fell with their faces to the foe. They shall grow not old, as we that are left grow old. Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn. At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them."


	17. 𝟘𝟙𝟛 ▹ 𝕌𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕒 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

The TARDIS lands in Roald Dahl Plass, Cardiff, and a wide grin spreads across Violet's face as she flies around the console to look at the monitor, scanning the area and finding the familiar landmark only moments later. She watches as the water cascades down the sides of the reflective monument with a soft, nostalgic smile.

"Cardiff," the Doctor declares.

Martha is in disbelief. "Cardiff?"

"Ah, but the thing about Cardiff, it's built on a Rift in time and space, just like California and the San Andreas Fault, but the Rift bleeds energy. Every now and then I need to open up the engines, soak up the energy and use it as fuel."

"So it's a pit stop."

"Exactly. Should only take twenty seconds. The Rift's been active."

A man in a great big coat is running across the plaza and Violet can't help the grin that breaks across her young face, or the delight that pulses in her centuries old eyes. It is Captain Jack Harkness, and he has a rucksack on his back.

"Wait a minute. They had an earthquake in Cardiff a couple of years ago. Was that you?"

"Bit of trouble with the Slitheen. A long time ago. Lifetimes. I was a different man back then."

Jack's mouth moves on the monitor, and Violet can only guess that he's yelling out "Doctor!" as the man in question comes back around the console to stand beside Violet once he informs her and Martha that the TARDIS is all powered up. The Doctor sees Jack on the scanner and he sets the Time Rotor moving. Jack leaps for the TARDIS and something goes  _bang_  and shakes the console room before Violet can whack the only other remaining being of her species.

"Whoa! What's that?" Martha exclaims, hands gripping the console.

"We're accelerating into the future," Violet breathes in disbelief.

The Doctor hits the monitor, staring at it with an almost horrified expression. "The year one billion. Five billion. Five trillion. Fifty trillion? What? The year one hundred trillion? That's impossible."

"Why?" Martha exclaims. "What happens then?"

"We're going to the end of the universe."

Violet keeps her glasses covered eyes glued on the monitor, worry spiking and stinging within her as she hangs on for dear life. Jack is hanging on for his life as the TARDIS hurtles through the vortex, and shows no sign of letting go as he calls out for the Doctor again. The large blue coat whips around the time traveller as he clings to the blue time machine, head flush against the wood and blue eyes wide.

The TARDIS comes to a stop moments later, sending the three inside reeling, and the one on the outside tumbling to the earth, currently as dead as a doornail. Violet's eyes fly over the monitor with a sickening feeling in her gut at the readings, and a call that is beckoning her from not too far away.

"Well, we've landed," the Doctor informs with a strange voice.

"So what's out there?" Martha asks.

"I don't know."

"Say that again. That's rare."

"Not even the Time Lords came this far. We should leave. We should go. We should really, really go."

Violet shakes her head and slips out the door of the TARDIS, coming to a stop a few metres from the door, staring down at the currently dead body of her former lover for a moment before sitting cross-legged beside the 51st Century man. The Doctor runs out of the blue box with a wide grin on his face moments later and it's with no surprise that Martha is following behind the Time Lord like a lost puppy. Almost instantly, she spots Jack lying on the ground near the TARDIS and Violet sitting beside the immortal man.

"Oh my God," the British woman exclaims, landing on the ground beside the man and instantly trying to find a pulse. "Can't get a pulse. Hold on. You've got that medical kit thing."

The older woman runs into the TARDIS and leaves the three time travellers outside where there is more danger than Violet cares to share with the Doctor.  _She_  has been this far in time before, but not to this exact place at the end of the universe.

"Hello again," the Doctor greets with a mixed expression of sadness and something Violet can't quite put her finger on. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Martha returns with the medical kit a minute later and places herself beside the currently dead Captain Jack Harkness and a patiently waiting Violet. As the woman tries to do whatever it is doctors do, she and the Doctor have a chat, making Violet's skin crawl at how nonchalant the Time Lord sounds as he explains how he knows the man and how he followed them to the end of the universe.

Violet watches with amusement and delight as Jack gasps and grabs Martha, who screams at the unexpected movement. The half Gallifreyan watches with a soft smile as the British woman carefully raises the alien up off the dirt, earning herself a blinding smile from the man.

"Captain Jack Harkness," the flirty man greets. "And who are you?"

"Martha Jones," the doctor-in-training informs with a blush.

"Nice to meet you, Martha Jones."

The Doctor sticks his hands in the pants of his suit and rolls his eyes. "Oh, don't start."

"I was only saying hello."

Martha helps Jack stand up, both clearly having forgotten that Violet is sitting beside where he once lay. Except, that thought is banished from her mind the second Jack turns around and pulls Violet up from the dusty ground and into his arms, holding her tightly as though they have been apart for longer than a week at most. The centuries old girl reciprocates the hug without hesitation, burying her face into his long coat as one of his hands rests on her lower back and the other on the back of her head, head resting against hers and eyes closed as he holds the young girl.

It takes for the Doctor to clear his throat to snap the two aliens back to the current present and move away from each others hold, a slight flush of embarrassment dusted over Violet's cheeks and a wide grin on Jack's face. However, it's quick to fade as Jack's baby blue eyes meet the Doctor's deep brown ones, a sort of respectful reverence and bubbling irritation taking its place.

"Doctor," Jack greets.

"Captain," the Doctor replies.

"Good to see you."

"And you. Same as ever. Although, have you had work done?"

"You can talk."

"Oh yes, the face. Regeneration. How did you know this was me?"

"The police box kind of gives it away. I've been following you for a long time. You abandoned me."

"Did I? Busy life. Moving on."

"Just got to ask. The Battle of Canary Wharf. I saw the list of the dead. It said Rose Tyler."

Violet flinches, and it's not missed by Jack.

The Doctor grins. "Oh, no! Sorry, she's alive."

"You're kidding," the immortal breathes in disbelief.

"Parallel world, safe and sound - and Mickey, and her mother."

"Oh, yes!"

A bright smile bursts to life on Jack's face as he hugs the Doctor, the Time Lord grinning widely. Violet allows herself to have a wide smile tinged with sadness and loss grace her face, but it's forced away when she hears Martha mutter a "good old Rose" in a sarcastic voice. That, of course, ends with Violet lightly slapping the darker-skinned woman and giving her a warning glare.

Turning on her heel, Violet begins walking in the direction the call is coming from, making Jack and the Doctor hurry after her, Martha hot on their heels. The young Time Lady is not amused by the conversation between the three travellers, and decides to tune it out, thinking of a time when it was much simpler and a time when all of this hadn't happened yet.

"So there I was, stranded in the year 200-100, ankle deep in Dalek dust, and he goes off without me. But I had this." Jack holds up his wrist and shows Martha his Vortex Manipulator. "I used to be a Time Agent. It's called a Vortex Manipulator. He's not the only one who can time travel."

"Oh, excuse me. That is  _not_ time travel," the Doctor laughs with annoyance, turning and jabbing a finger at the offensive technology. "It's like, I've got a sports car and you've got a space hopper."

"Oh ho. Boys and their toys." Martha snickers and looks over at Violet, earning a grin in response as the physically younger girl all but latches onto Jack.

"All right, so I bounced. I thought 21st century, the best place to find the Doctor, except that I got it a little wrong," the immortal man informs. "Arrived in 1869, this thing burnt out, so it was useless."

"Told you," the Doctor

"I had to live through the entire twentieth century waiting for a version of you that would coincide with me."

"But that makes you more than one hundred years old," Martha says with disbelief.

"And looking good, don't you think? So I went to the time rift, based myself there because I knew you'd come back to refuel. Until finally I get a signal on this detecting you and here we are."

"But the thing is, how come you left him behind, Doctor?"

"I was busy."

"Is that what happens, though, seriously? Do you just get bored with us one day and disappear?"

"Not if you're blonde," Jack says with a slight chuckle.

"Oh, she was blonde?" Martha exclaims. "Oh, what a surprise!"

"You two!" the Doctor groans. "We're at the end of the universe, all right? Right at the edge of knowledge itself and you're busy blogging! Come on."


	18. 𝟘𝟙𝟜 ▹ 𝕌𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕒 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

Skip forward a little and Violet finds herself inside what Humans and aliens remaining call the "silo," and she can see why they do - it's cylindrical and all, and downright creepy in her opinion. Being inside this building is making her head spin and her stomach churn, and the now undeniable call worse than it was when they first left the TARDIS.

The four time travellers are lead by an alien called Chantho through the silo, past countless people, and even a woman who Violet knows should not be there - someone with teeth like the Futurekind outside who eat Humans. However, that thought is of minimal concern as Violet comes face-to-face with an almost elderly man, her eyes widening in horror and her mouth becoming dry, and the call downright unbearable as she looks into intelligent brown eyes.

Whilst they aren't the same as she remembers them, they dredge up some of the horrors of Violet's past; fire and blood of countless species, and of her friends and family. She remembers the insane laugh that would seem to echo over the sound of the screams of aliens and Humans of the future alike, and the chills it would make encompass her body.

"So what about those things outside?" Jack asks, snapping Violet from her memories. "The Beastie Boys. What are they?"

"We call them the Futurekind, which is a myth in itself," the man, Professor Yana, informs. "But it's feared they are what we will become, unless we reach Utopia."

The Doctor looks over at the elderly man. "And Utopia is?"

"Oh, every Human knows of Utopia. Where have you been?"

"Bit of a hermit."

"A hermit with friends?"

"Hermits United. We meet up every ten years and swap stories about caves. It's good fun, for a hermit. So, er, Utopia?"

Yana shows them a display on the gravitational field navigation system. "The call came from across the stars, over and over again. Come to Utopia. Originating from that point."

The Doctor pulls on a pair of glasses and looks at the display. "Where is that?"

"Oh, it's far beyond the Condensate Wilderness, out towards the Wildlands and the Dark Matter reefs, calling us in. The last of the Humans scattered across the night."

"What do you think's out there?"

"We can't know. A colony, a city, some sort of haven? The Science Foundation created the Utopia Project thousands of years ago to preserve mankind, to find a way of surviving beyond the collapse of reality itself. Now perhaps they found it. Perhaps not. But it's worth a look, don't you think?"

"Oh, yes."

Violet's head snaps toward the professor as Yana hears the drum beats again, all but drowning out the Doctor's words, and she forces the lump in her throat down as she swallows. In all her years, she's only ever met one being who hears drum beats inside his head, and the thought of him sends chills down her spine and makes her body begin to tremble. She doesn't want it to be who she believes it to be, but all the signs are pointing to Professor Yana being that being.

"Professor? Professor? Professor," the Doctor calls.

"I, er, ahem, right, that's enough talk," Professor Yana informs, stumbling over his words. "There's work to do. Now if you could leave, thank you."

As the Doctor and Professor Yana talk, Violet crouches down in front of the jar containing the Doctor's hand from when he first Regenerated into this version of himself and had a duel with some alien, effectively losing his hand. It bothers the young half Gallifreyan seeing another version of this hand in the future when another version is back in the  _Torchwood_ bunker where Ianto and Gwen currently are.

A single exclamation of "Don't! It's going to flare!" from the Doctor breaks the young girl from her thoughts, and her own grey-blue eyes widen in horror as she witnesses power surge through Jack as he holds the live ends of wire together, being electrocuted as it flares. Violet and Martha pull Jack away from the live wires and the latter gives Jack mouth to mouth resuscitation, making the former growl lowly in her throat, cursing Jack in the ancient language that is long forgotten.

"Martha, leave him," the Doctor orders.

The darker-skinned woman pulls away from the immortal man. "You've got to let me try."

"Come on, come on, just listen to me. Now leave him alone. It strikes me, Professor, you've got a room which no man can enter without dying. Is that correct?"

"Yes," Professor Yana replies, confusion alive on his seemingly innocent face.

"Well..."

Violet leans down and briefly kisses her former lover, resting her forehead on his and closing her eyes as she is forced to witness him die yet again. Jack gasps as he returns to life, making the half-breed to move away from him, smiling softly

"I think I've got just the man," the Doctor informs.

"Was someone kissing me?" the disorientated man asks, baby blue eyes looking over at Violet for a moment.

It doesn't take long to fill Jack in, and soon he's rushing off with the Doctor, leaving Violet with Martha and Professor Yana. The half-breed watches on the monitor as they talk with a man for a moment before Jack sheds his shirt and goes to walk into the room filled with stet radiation, making Violet's skin crawl at the thought of the stuff.

Jack's voice filters through the speakers. "How long have you known?"

The Doctor leans against the wall. "Ever since I ran away from you. Good luck."

Jack goes inside the radiation chamber and continues connecting things up. The screen turns black and Martha reboots the monitor by typing Atillo into a hiragona keyboard before calling for the Doctor. Once she gets a reply, Violet leans against a wall and watches the screen, hardly paying attention to their conversation, but unable to pay full attention to the screen as a sharp pain arises in her mind the moment Yana hears voices whispering in his head.

The Doctor's voice slices through the pain. "When did you first realise?"

"Earth, 1892," Jack replies. "Got in a fight in Ellis Island. A man shot me through the heart. Then I woke up. Thought it was kind of strange, but then it never stopped. Fell off a cliff, trampled by horses, World War One, World War Two, poison, starvation, a stray javelin. In the end, I got the message. I'm the man who can never die, and all that time you knew."

"That's why I left you behind. It's not easy even just looking at you, Jack, because you're wrong."

"Thanks."

"You are. I can't help it. I'm a Time Lord. It's instinct. It's in my guts. You're a fixed point in time and space; you're a fact. That's never meant to happen. Even the TARDIS reacted against you, tried to shake you off. Flew all the way to the end of the universe just to get rid of you."

"So what you're saying is that you're, er, prejudiced?"

"I never thought of it like that."

"Shame on you."

"Yeah."

"Last thing I remember, back when I was mortal, I was facing three Daleks. Death by extermination, and then I came back to life." Jack pauses and Violet winces, knowing that pain. "What happened?"

"Rose," the Doctor replies, his voice more pained than Violet has heard it in a while.

"I thought you'd sent her back home."

"She came back. Opened the heart of the TARDIS and absorbed the time vortex itself."

"What does that mean, exactly?"

"No one's ever mean to have that power." The Doctor shakes his head. "If a Time Lord did that, he'd become a god. A vengeful god. But she was Human. Everything she did was so Human. She brought you back to life but she couldn't control it. She brought you back forever. That's something, I suppose. The final act of the Time War was life."

"Do you think she could change me back?" Jack has never sounded more hopeful to Violet.

"I took the power out of her. She's gone, Jack. She's not just living on a parallel world, she's trapped there. The walls have closed."

"I'm sorry."

"Yeah."

"I went back to her estate, in the nineties, just once or twice. Watched her growing up. Never said hello. Timelines and all that."

"Do you want to die?"

Jack dodges the question. "Oh, this one's a little stuck."

"Jack?" the Doctor pushes.

"I thought I did. I don't know. But this lot. You see them out here surviving, and that's fantastic."

"You might be out there, somewhere."

"I could go meet myself."

"Well, the only man you're ever going to be happy with."

"This new Regeneration, it's kind of cheeky."

"Hmm."

Violet's head snaps away from the screen at Chantho's worried voice, and she's not disappointed when Professor Yana starts ranting about time travel and time running out. Her ancient eyes dart to the man's hands at a flash of gold and her stomach drops at the sight of an ornately inscribed fob watch.

Martha quickly questions the man once she sees the fob watch, and the answers she gets make Violet push herself off the wall and stare at the Professor with dead, emotionless eyes. Martha turns the watch over and recognises the inscriptions, instantly handing the watch back and excusing herself to go find the Doctor just as Jack makes the final connection in the radiation room.


	19. 𝟘𝟙𝟝 ▹ 𝕌𝕥𝕠𝕡𝕚𝕒 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

Violet watches with rising anxiety and anticipation as Professor Yana looks at the watch, Chantho hovering by the man's side, eyes worried. The half Gallifreyan is tempted to call the alien away from the man, but she knows that it will do no good because Chantho adores her Professor Yana more than anything, and would do anything for the man.

A whispering voice comes from the fob watch, making Violet shiver. "The drums, the drums, the drums, the never ending drumbeat. Open me, you human fool. Open the light and summon me and receive my majesty."

Violet watches in dead silence and horror as the man opens the fob watch, a golden light coming from the inanimate object and winding itself around Professor Yana before making its way inside his body. She begins to tremble as the call within her body becomes a cry, making her cover her ears and grit her teeth, keeping her eyes trained on the man who was once as kind as Yana moves a lever and the control room door slams in the her friends' faces.

"Chan but you've locked them in tho," Chantho exclaims.

"Not to worry, my dear. As one door closes, another must open." He turns off the silo's defences.

"Chan you must stop tho. Chan but you've lowered the defences. The Futurekind will get in tho." Violet watches with sickening horror as Chantho raises a gun and points it at the man who was once Professor Yana. "Chan Professor, I'm so sorry, but I must stop you. You're destroying all our work tho."

"Oh. Now I can say I was provoked." He takes hold of a live energy cable. "Did you never think, all those years standing beside me, to ask about that watch? Never? Did you never once think, not ever, that you could set me free?"

"Chan I'm sorry tho. Chan I'm so sorry."

"You, with your "chan" and your "tho" driving me insane."

"Chan Professor, please..."

"That is not my name! The Professor was an invention. So perfect a disguise that I forgot who I am."

"Chan then who are you tho?"

"I am the Master."

The Master thrusts the live end of the cable at Chantho, electrocuting the alien woman and making Violet's mouth open in a silent scream of horror, eyes widening behind her glasses. With a smirk, he drops the wire and turns to the half Gallifreyan with a sadistic look in his brown eyes, making her back into a wall and drop her hands. Her jaw is clenched as the Master walks past her and caresses the jar with the Doctor's hand in it with some sort of nostalgia in his eyes.

"Professor! Professor, let me in! Let me in! Jack, get the door open now!" The Doctor bangs on the door. "Professor! Professor, where are you?! Professor! Professor, are you there? Please, I need to explain. Whatever you do, don't open that watch."

Violet stays completely still as the Master walks past her again, holding the container with the Doctor's hand in it, and removes a circuit board from the gravitational field navigation system and then disconnects the power cable from the TARDIS. He turns back to Violet and takes hold of her pulling him with him as he walks back to the blue box. She knows that he can hear the Doctor begging him to open the door but is blatantly ignoring the other member of his species as he moves around, unaware that Chantho is not yet dead and is reaching for her fallen gun.

"Just open the door, please."

Chantho shoots the Master and then dies just as Jack smashes the control panel and the door opens. The Master steps back into the TARDIS, carrying the jar and having one hand clamped tightly around Violet's upper arm, and shuts the door on the Doctor. He locks it just before the Doctor can insert his key, Violet's stomach dropping as the Master goes to the console and presses a switch, deadlocking the door.

"Let me in," the Doctor yells. "Let me in!"

Violet slams herself against the door. "Jack! Doctor!"

"I broke the lock," Jack informs. "Give me a hand!"

"I'm begging you," the Doctor pleads, talking directly to the Master and ignoring Violet. "Everything's changed! It's only the three of us! We're the only ones left! Just let me in!

"Killed by an insect. A girl. How inappropriate," the Master says with disgust. "Still, if the Doctor can be young and strong, then so can I. The Master reborn."

Violet presses herself against the deadlocked TARDIS door and covers her eyes as the Master Regenerates. The Doctor and Martha watch the golden glow through the TARDIS window, and Violet knows that there's as much fear boiling in the two as there is in her. As the glow fades, she looks over at the now young man, taking in his familiar brown eyes, now chestnut hair and slim build, his old clothes hanging off his body.

His laugh fills the TARDIS and makes Violet recoil even further against the door so much that she can feel splinters digging into her back and palms of her hands, grey-blue eyes wide with utter horror. The laugh is more familiar than she cares to admit, and she knows this version of him more than she'll ever admit to the Doctor, or even to Jack.

"Now then, Doctor," the Master says. "Ooo, new voice. Hello, hello. Hello. Anyway, why don't we stop and have a nice little chat while I tell you all my plans and you can work out a way to... Stop me, I don't think."

"Hold on," Violet hears Martha gasp. "I know that voice."

"I'm asking you really properly," the Doctor pleads. "Just stop. Just think!"

"Use my name," the Master demands.

"Master. I'm sorry."

"Tough!"

"I can't hold out much longer, Doctor!" Violet hears Jack exclaim, the strain obvious in his voice.

"Get out of here!" Violet orders through the deadlocked door of the TARDIS, finally making them all realise exactly where the half Gallifreyan is. She squeezes her eyes shut at the cries that arise, but they open as the Master laughs. "Jack, I fixed your thing, so get all three of you out of here! I can take care of myself."

Violet hears the Doctor activate his Sonic Screwdriver while the Master starts up the Time Rotor, and she shakes her head, flinging herself away from the door and up to the console. Fighting the instinct within her to open the doors, she presses buttons and spins contraptions as she rushes around the console, setting their destination for the 21st Century. Giving the door one last look, she flips the final lever and takes hold of the console as the TARDIS dematerialises and enters the time vortex, leaving her friends at the end of the universe.


	20. 𝟘𝟙𝟞 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

Violet groans in annoyance and looks down at her handmade Sonic device - a watch to be precise. The three of them should be there by now considering that Violet entered these exact coordinates into Jack's Vortex Manipulator when she fixed it without any of them noticing. Moments later a vortex appears, blowing the rubbish around, followed by the Doctor, Jack and Martha.

"Oh, my head," the dark-skinned woman complains.

"Time travel without a capsule," the Doctor mutters. "That's a killer."

"Still, at least we made it. Earth, 21st Century by the looks of it," Jack muses. "Talk about lucky."

"That wasn't luck, that was Violet."

"The moral is," Violet states, walking over to the three and startling them. "If you're going to get stuck at the end of the universe, get stuck with two ex-Time Agents and a Vortex Manipulator."

Jack grins and pulls the physically younger girl into a tight hug, her own arms wrapping around his middle and pressing her face into his chest. For him, the Doctor and Martha it's only been a few seconds, or minutes at most, but, for Violet, it's been months trapped in this time under the watchful eye of the Master - even before he got elected as Prime Minister of Great Britain.

Forcing herself to pull away from her former lover, Violet sends him a warm smile before hugging the Doctor, allowing herself to relax in his arms as his scent and body engulf her. His presence and hold is comforting in many ways, and it's much different to the way that Jack's presence and hold affects her, but she doesn't mind at all. Moments later she breaks away from the older Time Lord, also smiling at him before turning her attention to Martha as she speaks.

"But this Master bloke, he's got the TARDIS," Martha reminds the Doctor. "He could be anywhere in time and space."

"No, he's here," the Doctor says in a low voice that's bristling with something dark. "Trust me."

"Who is he, anyway? And that voice at the end, that wasn't the Professor."

Jack fixes his long coat. "If the Master's a Time Lord, then he must have regenerated."

"What does that mean?"

"It means he's changed his face, voice, body, everything. New man."

A beggar is tapping a rhythm on his tin mug.  _Di di di dum di di di dum._

"Then how are we going to find him?" Martha demands.

"I'll know him, the moment I see him," the Doctor explains. "Time Lords always do."

Violet rolls her eyes and gives Jack a disbelieving look.  _You didn't at the end of the universe, but I did._

"But hold on," Martha exclaims. "If he could be anyone... We missed the election. But it can't be..."

A series of public television screens on lamp posts are broadcasting the news, and all Violet does is stand with her arms crossed over her chest as the three other time travellers stare at it with shocked eyes. The new Prime Minister is walking down steps with his wife, and it's the Master, much to the Doctor's disbelief.

"I said I knew that voice. When he spoke inside the TARDIS," Martha remembers. "I've heard that voice hundreds of times. I've seen him. We all have. That was the voice of Harold Saxon."

The Doctor has an incredulous expression on his face, not sure how this can be happening. "That's him. He's Prime Minister. The Master is Prime Minister of Great Britain. The Master and his wife?"

"This country has been sick. This country needs healing. This country needs medicine," the Master says on the television. "In fact, I'd go so far as to say that what this country really needs right now, is a Doctor."

Violet lets out a groan as the Doctor and Martha take off, leaving the half Gallifreyan standing with her head dropped back and her eyes shut, a strange, defeated moan leaving her mouth. Opening her eyes, she looks over to Jack and holds out her hand, inviting him to take hold of hers before the two chase after the Time Lord and the doctor-in-training. To neither's surprise, they find themselves at Martha's home after the long run, and Jack instantly pulls out his phone to attempt to call Ianto or Gwen.

"Jack, who are you phoning?" the Doctor demands. "You can't tell anyone we're here."

Jack pulls the phone away from his ear and hangs up. "Just some friends of mine, but there's no reply."

Martha fetches her laptop and hands it to the Doctor. "Here you go. Any good?"

"I can show you the Saxon websites. He's been around for ages."

"That's so weird though. It's the day after the election. That's only four days after I met you."

"We went flying all around the universe while he was here all the time," the Doctor sighs.

Violet snorts and sits on a chair. "I've been here for months. Almost ran into you two the other day when the hospital was taken to the moon by the Judoon."

"You going to tell us who he is?" Martha asks, ignoring what Violet said.

"He's a Time Lord," the Doctor says shortly, eyes fixed on the laptop screen.

"What about the rest of it? I mean, who'd call himself the Master?"

"That's all you need to know." He rapidly presses buttons. "Come on, show me Harold Saxon."

A series of web videos are pulled up on Martha's laptop, and their echoing support for "Harold Saxon" fill the room, deafening Violet before she stands and leaves the room for a moment, the cry in her head becoming piercing being this far away from the Master. She isn't sure what has brought on her sudden need to be close to the other Time Lord, but it is becoming increasingly irritating and painful the longer she is away from the murderous and genocidal maniac.

She stays outside for a few more minutes before heading back inside. Hearing noise from the kitchen, she walks in and finds that Jack is making four mugs of tea - three white and one black, and all with sugar.

"But he's got the TARDIS," Jack tries to reason. "Maybe the Master went back in time and has been living here for decades."

"No," the Doctor rebukes.

"Why not? Worked for me."

"When he was stealing the TARDIS," Violet murmurs, sipping her tea. "The only thing I could do was fuse the coordinates when he was taking her. I locked them permanently. He can only travel between the year one hundred trillion and the last place the TARDIS landed. Which is right here, right now."

Jack looks over at Violet with an impressed expression. "Yeah, but a little leeway?"

"Well, eighteen months, tops. The most he could have been here is eighteen months," the Doctor informs. "So how has he managed all this? The Master was always sort of hypnotic, but this is on a massive scale."

"I was going to vote for him," Martha says quietly.

"Really?"

"Well, it was before I even met you, and I liked him."

"Me too," Jack says with a shrug.

The Doctor instantly jumps on them. "Why do you say that? What was his policy? What did he stand for?"

"I don't know. He always sounded good." Martha starts tapping the rhythm; the drum beat that echoes in the Master's head. "Like you could trust him. Just nice. He spoke about. I can't really remember, but it was good. Just the sound of his voice."

"What's that?"

"What?"

"That. That tapping, that rhythm. What are you doing?"

"I don't know. It's nothing. It's just, I don't know."

A fanfare blares out from the laptop and a pop up says "Saxon Broadcast All Channels" and the Doctor turns on the TV, the Master appearing on the screen with Lucy off to the side. Just seeing him makes the crying in Violet's head lessen slightly and she sighs out in relief, sagging and taking a seat on Jack, still sipping her tea and watching the screen with her centuries old eyes.

"Our lord and master is speaking to his kingdom," the Doctor says sarcastically.

"Britain, Britain, Britain," the Master says. "What extraordinary times we've had. Just a few years ago, this world was so small. And then they came, out of the unknown, falling from the skies. You've seen it happen." Film clips appear on the screen as he continues to speak. "Big Ben destroyed. A spaceship over London. All those ghosts and metal men. The Christmas star that came to kill. Time and time again, and the government told you nothing. Well, not me. Not Harold Saxon. Because my purpose here today is to tell you this. Citizens of Great Britain, I have been contacted. A message for humanity, from beyond the stars."

A small silver sphere appears on the screen and Violet goes rigid, the cup falling from her grasp and shattering on the floor, tea spilling everywhere. "People of the Earth, we bring technology and wisdom and protection. And all we ask in return is your friendship."

"Ooo, sweet. And this species has identified itself. They are called the Toclafane."

The Doctor frowns in confusion. "What?"

"And tomorrow morning, they will appear. Not in secret, but to all of you. Diplomatic relations with a new species will begin. Tomorrow, we take our place in the universe. Every man, woman and child. Every teacher and chemist and lorry driver and farmer. Oh, I don't know, every medical student?"

The Doctor turns to look at Martha, then turns the big old cathode ray tube TV around to see sticks of explosive strapped to the back. With a single cry of "out!" from the ancient man, the Doctor grabs the laptop and runs out into the street, Martha following instantly. Violet stands automatically and Jack makes it a few paces before he realises she isn't following him, turning and grabbing her wrist before exiting the building just as the first floor of the converted house explodes with a massive fireball smashing the windows.

"All right?" the Doctor asks, looking around at his companions, gaze lingering on Violet longer than necessary.

"Fine, yeah, fine," Jack assures distractedly, attention trained on Violet. "Look at me, Violet. Hey. Violet, look at me."

Violet looks at the immortal alien whose death she's witnessed with dull eyes. "I'm fine, Jacky Boy. Just a little numb and in shock is all."

"How long has it been since you've...?"

"New New York, New Earth, year 5, 000, 000, 053. That was a few months ago."

"Damn it, little love." With a glance over at the Time Lord and doctor-in-training, Jack pulls out the familiar injector. He presses it to the inside of Violet's arm and injects the cold substance into her body before stuffing it back into his trench coat. "You good now?"

The crying in Violet's head sounds like it's underwater and her head feels relatively empty and normal again, a sigh leaving her as she drops her head against Jack. "Thanks. I'm good now."

Martha goes to her Vauxhall Corsa and climbs in the driver's seat, and the Doctor getting in the front passenger seat. Jack slides into the back with Violet and, by the time the latter closes the door behind her, Martha is already speeding down the road, narrowly avoiding oncoming traffic. The Doctor cries out "corner!" and the dark woman swerves around it, sending Violet tumbling into Jack as the other of her species grips the dashboard tightly.

Minutes later they're being shot at. Martha turns the car round as bullets slam into it, and Jack yells for her to "move it!" moments before the rear window is shattered as they drive away. The immortal alien orders Martha to ditch the car just as it begins to rain, and then the silly woman decides that it's time to make another call, much to Violet's distress as she and Jack head to an underpass. The Doctor and Martha join them moments later, and then the former's phone rings.

The Master's voice comes through the speaker. "Doctor. Violet."

"Master," the Doctor greets in a tight voice.

"I like it when you use my name."

"You chose it. Psychiatrist's field day."

"As you chose yours. The man who makes people better. How sanctimonious is that?"

"So, Prime Minister, then."

"I know. It's good, isn't it?"

"Who are those creatures?" the Doctor demands. "Because there's no such thing as the Toclafane. It's just a made up name, like the Bogeyman."

"Do you remember all those fairy tales about the Toclafane when we were kids back home." In an instant, the Master switches gears. "Where is it, Doctor?"

"Gone."

"How can Gallifrey be gone?"

"It burnt."

"And the Time Lords?"

"Dead. And the Daleks, more or less," the Doctor informs. "What happened to you?"

"The Time Lords only resurrected me because they knew I'd be the perfect warrior for a Time War," the Master explains. "I was there when the Dalek Emperor took control of the Cruciform. I saw it. I ran. I ran so far. Made myself human so they would never find me, because I was so scared."

"I know."

"All of them? But not you, which must mean..."

"I was the only one who could end it. And I tried. I did. I tried everything."

"What did it feel like, though? Two almighty civilisations burning. Oh, tell me, how did that feel?"

Violet goes rigid beside Jack, and the immortal places a comforting arm around her.

"Stop it!" the Doctor snarls.

"You must have been like God," the Master continues.

"I've been alone ever since. But not anymore. Don't you see? All we've got is each other."

"Are you asking me out on a date?"

Violet can't help the sharp laugh that bursts free until she claps her hands over her mouth, eyes wide.

"You could stop this right now," the Doctor pleads. "We could leave this planet. We can fight across the constellations, if that's what you want, but not on Earth."

"Too late."

"Why do you say that?"

Violet's breathing halts at the next words to escape the Master's mouth.

"The drumming. Can't you hear it? I thought it would stop, but it never does. Never ever stops. Inside my head, the drumming, Doctor. The constant drumming."

"I could help you. Please, let me help."

"It's everywhere. Listen, listen, listen. Here come the drums. Here come the drums."

"What have you done? Tell me how you've done this," the Doctor all but cries in exasperation and desperation. "What are those creatures? Tell me!"

"Ooo look. You're on TV."

"Stop it. Answer me."

"No, really. You're on telly. You and your little band, which, by the way, is ticking every demographic box. So, congratulations on that. Look, there you are." The Master laughs and Violet glares up at the CCTV camera. "You're public enemies number one, two, three and four. Oh, and you can tell handsome Jack that I've sent his little gang off on a wild goose chase to the Himalayas, so he won't be getting any help from them."

Jack goes still beside Violet, and she reaches her arm across her body to squeeze the hand of the arm around her shoulders.

"Now, go on, off you go. Why not start by turning to the right?"

The Doctor looks up the CCTV camera and hangs up the phone before zapping the camera with his Sonic Screwdriver. "He can see us."


	21. 𝟘𝟙𝟟 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

Violet taps away on the computer in front of her as Jack sits beside her, alert as he can possibly be with what is going on. The Doctor is somewhere behind them, doing whatever it is that the strange alien does. Well, that's Violet's take anyway. She looks up from her screen as Martha returns with a bag of takeaway food.

"How was it?" Jack asks, swivelling around and facing the dark-skinned woman.

"I don't think anyone saw me," Martha says, placing the bag on a table. "Anything new?"

"We've got this tuned to government wavelengths so we can follow what Saxon's doing," Violet explains with a small yawn, thanking Jack as he hands her another cup of steaming British coffee. She screws her face up at the taste before continuing to drink it.

"Yeah, I meant about my family."

"It still says the Jones family taken in for questioning," the Doctor replies. "Tell you what, though. No mention of Leo."

"He's not as daft as he looks. I'm talking about my brother on the run. How did this happen?"

"Nice chips," Jack says with a mouthful of the potato goodies.

"Actually, they're not bad," the Doctor compliments.

"So, Doctor, who is he? How come the ancient society of Time Lords created a psychopath?"

"And what is he to you? Like a colleague or...?" Martha trails off.

"A friend, at first," the Time Lord says with a faraway look in his old eyes.

"I thought you were going to say he was your secret brother or something."

"You've been watching too much TV."

"But all the legends of Gallifrey made it sound so perfect," Jack says with disbelief, Violet nodding along in agreement as she shuffles closer to the man in an attempt to warm up.

"Well, perfect to look at, maybe," the Doctor says with a smile. "And it was. It was beautiful. They used to call it the Shining World of the Seven Systems, and on the Continent of Wild Endeavour, in the Mountains of Solace and Solitude, there stood the Citadel of the Time Lords, the oldest and most mighty race in the universe, looking down on the galaxies below. Sworn never to interfere, only to watch. Children of Gallifrey, taken from their families age of eight to enter the Academy, and some say that's when it all began - when he was a child. That's when the Master saw eternity. As a novice, he was taken for initiation. He stood in front of the Untempered Schism. It's a gap in the fabric of reality through which could be seen the whole of the vortex. You stand there, eight years old, staring at the raw power of time and space, just a child. Some would be inspired, some would run away, and some would go mad. Brr. I don't know."

"What about you?" Martha asks.

"Oh, the ones that ran away," the man says with a laugh. "I never stopped."

Violet smiles softly.  _I didn't run away._

Jack's Vortex Manipulator beeps. "Encrypted channel with files attached. Don't recognise it."

"Patch it through to the laptop," the Time Lord orders.

"Since we're telling stories, there's something I haven't told you."

"Or me," Violet says with a small smile. "I hid most of it from you when you went into my head."

The  _Torchwood_ logo appears on the laptop with the miraculous battery life.

"You work for  _Torchwood_ ," the Time Lord says, and it's almost a jab.

"I swear to you, it's different. It's changed," Jack says. "There's only half a dozen of us now."

"Everything  _Torchwood_ did, and you're part of it?"

"The old regime was destroyed at Canary Wharf. I rebuilt it, I changed it, and when I did that, I did it for you in your honour."

The Doctor hits play without saying anything in return to the immortal man, or even looking at the anxious and fearful half Gallifreyan sitting beside the 51st Century man.

A woman appears on the screen, and Violet recognises her as Vivien Rook, a reporter for 'Sunday Mirror'. "If I haven't returned to my desk by twenty two hundred, this file will be emailed to  _Torchwood_. Which means if you're watching this, then I'm... Anyway, the Saxon files are attached, but take a look at the Archangel document. That's when it all started - when Harry Saxon became Minister in charge of launching the Archangel Network."

"What's the Archangel Network?" the Doctor asks.

"I've got Archangel," Martha informs. "Everyone's got it."

"It's a mobile phone network," Jack explains. "Because look, it's gone worldwide. They've got fifteen satellites in orbit. Even the other networks, they're all carried by Archangel."

"It's in the phones!" the Doctor exclaims. "Oh, I said he was a hypnotist. Wait, wait, wait. Hold on."

The Doctor taps Martha's phone against the table, and it starts beeping the same drum beat that fills the Master's head. Violet shudders as the cries in her mind grow louder at the drum beats despite the medication still flooding her system.

"There it is. That rhythm, it's everywhere, ticking away in the subconscious."

"What is it, mind control?" Martha asks, suddenly fearful.

"No, no, no, no, no. It's subtler than that. Any stronger and people would question it. But contained in that rhythm, in layers of code: "vote Saxon," "believe in me." Whispering to the world. Oh, yes! That's how he hid himself from me, because I should have sensed there was another Time Lord on Earth. I should have known way back. The signal cancelled him out."

"Any way you can stop it?" Jack asks.

Violet shakes her head. "Not from down here, but now we know how he's doing it. No, even I didn't know how he was doing it, so stop giving me that look, old man."

"And we can fight back," Martha declares with enthusiasm.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor takes parts of the phone and the laptop, and welds them sonically to their TARDIS keys. "Four TARDIS keys. Four pieces of the TARDIS, all with low level perception properties because the TARDIS is designed to blend in. Well, sort of. But now, the Archangel Network's got a second low level signal. Weld the key to the network and Martha, look at me. You can see me, yes?"

"Yes," Martha says.

"What about now?" He puts the string with his key on it around his neck, and Martha finds it difficult to look straight at him. "No, I'm here. Look at me."

"It's like I know you're there, but I don't want to know."

"And back again. See? It just shifts your perception a tiny little bit. Doesn't make us invisible, just unnoticed. Oh, I know what it's like. It's like, it's like when you fancy someone and they don't even know you exist. That's what it's like. Come on."

The man rushes out, leaving Martha and the other time travellers behind. She has a wounded, painful expression on her face, and it's one that both Violet and Jack know all too well - Jack with Ianto, and what used to be Violet with Jack but is now Violet with the Doctor sometimes.

"You too, huh?" the alien asks, a tight-lipped smile on his face.

Martha gives him a brief smile before following the older male out, Jack glancing over to Violet and giving her a warm smile as he stands and takes his hand in hers. She allows him to pull her up from her comfortable seat and lead her from the room, but she still jumps when he drops his large trench coat over her, encasing her in warmth as the four time travellers walk down the street.

"Don't run, don't shout. Just keep your voice down," the Doctor coaches, making Violet roll her eyes. "Draw attention to yourself and the spell is broken. Just keep to the shadows."

"Like ghosts," Jack supplies.

"Yeah, that's what we are. Ghosts."

With the keys around their necks, they have to step aside to prevent people from walking into them, and it takes longer than what they desire to reach the airport where the Master is. They stand off to the side and watch what is going on, Violet almost hopping from one foot to another, unable to stay still for an extended period of time. However, she's not the problem child when Martha's parents are pulled from a car.

The Master grins. "Ha ha ha! Hi, guys!"

"You can't just do this," Clive, Martha's father, exclaims.

"All will be revealed."

"Oh my God," Martha says, starting to move forward.

The Doctor takes her hand and holds her in place. "Don't move."

"But the..."

"Don't."

Clive and Francine are pushed into a Range Rover Vogue, and Martha glares at the scene. "I'm going to kill him."

"What say I use this perception filter to walk up behind him and break his neck?" Jack muses.

"I'm with you there," Violet agrees, flashes of her war-filled past appearing in her mind. "Stop him before the fucker goes too far - again."

"Now that sounds like  _Torchwood_ ," the Doctor says, glancing down at Violet.

"Still a good plan," Jack says matter-of-factly.

Violet nods, eyes stormy and more grey than blue.

"He's a Time Lord, which makes him  _my_ responsibility," the Doctor declares. "I'm not here to kill him. I'm here to save him."

"I may not be a full Gallifreyan, but I'm still  _half_ one. He's not just yours,  _Doctor_."  _Not to mention, I am a female Time Lord._

"Aircraft carrier  _Valiant_ ," Jack informs. "It's a UNIT ship at 58.02 North, 10.02 East."

"How do we get on board?" Martha asks

"Does that  _thing_ work as a teleport?" the Doctor asks, referring to the Vortex Manipulator.

"Since Violet revamped it, yeah," Jack replies, inputting the coordinates. "Coordinates set."

Violet takes hold of Jack's hand as the Doctor and Martha do the same with the Vortex Manipulator. Seconds later the four of them are hurtling through space until they come to land inside the  _Valiant_ , thousands upon thousands of kilometres up in the air. The  _Valiant_ is effectively a Cloudbase, with three landing strips and a helipad, and, while it's larger than most give it credit for, it's not as big as or as cool as the helicarrier from the  _Marvel Cinematic Universe_  in Violet's opinion.

"Oh, that thing is rough," Martha complains, backing away from Jack.

"I've has worse nights," Jack says, winking down at Violet and making her laugh. "Welcome to the  _Valiant_."

"It's dawn? Hold on, I thought this was a ship. Where's the sea?"

"A ship for the 21st Century," Violet says in a bored, stewardess voice, making Jack grin. "Protecting the skies of planet Earth."


	22. 𝟘𝟙𝟠 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕠𝕦𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝔻𝕣𝕦𝕞𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

Violet skids to a stop only minutes after they began running and tilts her head to the side, listening to the strange noise. As soon as they notice she's stopped, Jack, the Doctor and Martha stop running, the immortal man and the Human woman obviously annoyed at the decision, but the Doctor is staring at Violet with glimmering eyes, delight pulsing in their chestnut depths.

"We've no time for sightseeing," Jack tries, looking between Violet and the Doctor.

"No, wait," the Doctor says. "Shush, shush, shush, shush. Can't you hear it?"

"Hear what?"

"Doctor, my family's on board," Martha reminds the alien.

"Brilliant," said alien replies, clearly distracted. "This way."

He darts away and Martha follows with a sigh of irritation, Jack and Violet half a step behind the the two of them. They run down a gangway to Level 4 of the  _Valiant_ , then open a door at the end, revealing the beautiful blue box that they have all missed.

"Oh, at last!" the Doctor exclaims.

Martha cheers. "Oh, yes!"

However, it's Jack that asks the serious question. "What's it doing on the  _Valiant_?"

Violet shakes her head and brushes past them all, hurrying inside the TARDIS to see what damage the Master has done to the poor girl. Her feet halt for a moment not two steps in, but then they're moving faster as she clambers up the stairs and stares at the console with petrified eyes. Seconds later Jack, the Doctor and Martha are by Violet's side, and, whilst Martha is clearly confused, the former two are just as worried as the half Gallifreyan is.

"What the hell's he done?" the immortal 51st Century man asks with wide eyes, walking over to the console in the centre of the control room.

"Don't touch it," the Doctor berates.

"I'm not going to."

"What's he done though?" Martha says, face screwed up as she looks at the TARDIS. "Sounds like it's sick."

"It can't be," the Doctor mutters frantically. "No, no, no, no, no, no, it can't be."

"Doctor, what is it?"

"He's cannibalised the TARDIS," Violet breathes. "I didn't think he'd go that far."

"Is this what I think it is?" Jack asks, stepping back next to the nineteen-year-old girl.

"It's a paradox machine," the Doctor confirms, walking around the console. He taps a gauge on the metal mesh around the time console. "As soon as this hits red, it activates. At this speed, it'll trigger at two minutes past eight."

"First contact is at eight, then two minutes later..."

"What's it for?" Martha asks, trying to get  _some_  answers. "What does a paradox machine do?"

"More important, can you stop it?"

"Not till we know what it's doing," Violet says, shaking her head as she stares at the console.

"Touch the wrong bit, blow up the solar system," the Doctor agrees.

"Then we've got to get to the Master," Martha suggests.

Jack nods. "Yeah. How are we going to stop him?"

"Oh, I've got a way," the Doctor says nonchalantly, making everyone stare at him. At the silence he looks up and blinks. "Sorry, didn't I mention it?"

**: : : :**

Violet hates that they're standing around and watching the Master deliver his speech introducing the Toclafane, but, apparently, it's all a part of the Doctor's plan. Beside her, Jack is exuding tension, and Martha is almost jumping from where she's standing and going to tackle the other Time Lord. The Doctor taking off his key and trying to run forward startles Violet, and she grips Jack's hand as two men in black grab the Doctor.

"We meet at last, Doctor," the Master greets with a sinister smile. "Oh, ho. I love saying that."

"Stop it!" the Doctor yells. "Stop it now!"

"As if a perception filter's going to work on me, and look, it's the girlie and the freak. Although, I'm not sure which one's which. You also brought the filthy halfling."

Jack runs forward and the Master zaps him with his screwdriver, making Violet screech and dart forward, Martha by her side. The half Gallifreyan cradles Jack's head in her lap as she glares up at the psychopathic Time Lord.

"Laser screwdriver. Who'd have sonic?" The psychopath laughs. "And the good thing is, he's not dead for long. I get to kill him again!"

"Master, just calm down," the Doctor pleads. "Just look at what you're doing. Just stop. If you could see yourself..."

"Oh, do excuse me. Little bit of personal business. Back in a minute. Let him go."

"It's that sound. The sound in your head. What if I could help?"

"Oh, how to shut him up? I know. Memory Lane. Professor Lazarus. Remember him and his genetic manipulation device?"

The Doctor stares at the Master with rising horror, and Violet feels it begin to pool in her gut.

"What, did you think that little Tish got that job merely by coincidence? I've been laying traps for you all this time. And if I can concentrate all that Lazarus technology into one little screwdriver? But, ooo, if I only had the Doctor's biological code. Oh, wait a minute, I do." He opens a large metal briefcase. "I've got his hand. And if Lazarus made himself younger, what if I reverse it? Another hundred years?"

The Master aims his screwdriver at the Doctor, who goes into rapid convulsions, his body ageing before everyone's eyes. Jack revives with Martha next to him, pale blue eyes looking directly at the dark-skinned woman as he tries to convince her to get out of there.

"We can't stop him," Violet pleads quietly.

"Get out of here," Jack adds. "Get out."

Violet looks back over at the Master and, behind the laughing man, Lucy is looking very unhappy with everything that is happening. The Master stops zapping the Doctor, who now looks at least a hundred years old.

Martha hurries over to the now frail man, Jack's Vortex Manipulator in her hand. "Doctor? I've got you."

"Ah, she's a would be doctor," the Master says in a showman's voice. "But tonight, Martha Jones, we've flown them in all the way from prison."

The Jones family, minus Martha's brother, are all dragged on deck, wrists fastened together with cable ties. Violet grits her teeth and, as she goes to move, Jack's hand grips hers and calms her, making the young half Gallifreyan let out a shaky breath as she sits back on the floor of the  _Valiant_.

"The Toclafane," the Doctor says, causing Violet to look over at the aged man. "What are they?  _Who_  are they?"

The Master tuts. "Doctor, if I told you the truth, your hearts would break. Your little halfling pet knows that, and that's why she hasn't told you what she knows."

Violet bares her teeth at the man, clutching Jack's hand tightly and making him wince. "Don't you  _dare_  drag me into this you  _murderer_. I will  _not_ stand by while you destroy yet another species. I will fight against you however many more times is needed before I finally kill you  _myself_."

A tear appears in the sky above the  _Valiant_ and thousands of spheres pour out, the Master and Lucy walking over to the window of the  _Valiant_ and watching the silver spheres rain down onto planet earth.

"How many do you think?" the Master asks his wife.

"I, I don't know," Lucy murmurs.

"Six billion. Down you go, kids!"

The spheres head to the population centres and open fire.

"Shall we decimate them? That sounds good. A nice word, decimate. Remove one tenth of the population!"

Violet watches as the Doctor whispers something to Martha. She moves away from him, holding Jack's Vortex Manipulator, sparing the man himself and Violet one last glance before she teleports away. The Doctor and Jack look at each other, and the Doctor nods, ancient eyes moving to give Violet a reassuring look before the Master and Lucy hold up the ancient Doctor so he can watch the slaughter of the Humans by the very beings that would shatter the Doctor's hearts.

"And so it came to pass that the Human race fell, and the Earth was no more," the Master recites. "And I looked down upon my new dominion as Master of all, and I thought it good."


	23. 𝟘𝟙𝟡 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

It has been an entire year since Martha left Violet, Jack and the Doctor aboard the  _Valiant_  with the Master and all his henchmen, and his wife. Martha's mother and sister, Francine and Tish, have become maids to the Master's every whim and desire, whilst Martha's father, Clive, has basically become the janitor, cleaning up after every mess that is made - including those made on purpose.

On Lower Deck 2 is where Jack and Violet reside. The former is grubby and tattered, and being forced to stand all the time, wrists chained to stout posts on either side of his body. Violet, on the other hand, has no option to stand with her wrists being clamped in manacles and chained to the floor by a short length of chain off to the side of where Jack is held.

With only twenty-four hours to what the Master is calling "Launch Day," it's no surprise when Tish comes walking down the corridor towards the two prisoners, carrying a tray of food for the two to share. Violet's nose instinctively scrunches when the smell reaches her nose and she turns her head away, meeting Jack's eyes briefly before looking back at Martha's sister.

"Morning, Tish. Ah, smell that sea air. Makes me long for good old British fish and chips," Jack says with some sort of fervour in his voice that makes Violet wince. "Yeah. What do I get? Cold mashed swede. Some hotel. Last time I book over the Internet."

The half Gallifreyan watches as Tish spoons Jack his food and puts three fingers against the container. Jack winks as he chews the swede and Violet gives a half smirk, shifting her position on the floor and grimacing as the chains rub against her raw and bloodied wrists. Baby blue eyes shift to her and she gives him a tight smile, attempting to hide the pain she's feeling because she knows that he's feeling much more than she is.

Hours pass without fail and it's irritating for the time travellers to be living at a mundane pace. Soon it's 14:58 according to the chronometer up on the bridge. The Doctor, Francine and Tish are currently up there, whilst Clive is still cleaning below decks. Jack and Violet can see a clock from their cage, too, and both start to pull on their chains. With seconds to go to 3 o'clock, Jack's chains are coming free of the wall, and Violet's free of the ground.

On the stroke of 3, Jack is free while Violet still struggles with hers, not having had enough food to keep up her strength, and the 51st Century medicine having worn off months ago making her want to give up instantly. Jack grabs a steam hose and points it at the guard, making the man cry out and run into a wall, knocking himself out. Clive throws water on an electrical circuit and starts a fire as Jack drags Violet's chains from the  _Valiant_ 's floor.

Clive gets caught within moments and Jack is confronted by a squad of armed men. He moves in front of where Violet is currently crumpled on the floor a few levels below where the Doctor and the Master are. She barely has the strength to hold herself up, let alone throw herself in front of her former lover and take the bullets meant for him and trigger her next Regeneration.

Jack surrenders without a complaint, raising his hands. "Oh, here we go again."

The squad shoot Jack in front of Violet, and all she can do is crawl over to his dead body and hold him, her head on his chest where his heart is. Francine, Clive and Tish are locked up within minutes, and Jack is back in his chains, Violet chained to the floor by his side.

"I'm going to kill him, if I have to wait a hundred years. I'm going to kill the Master," Francine seethes. "One day he'll let his guard down. One day, and I'll be there."

Clive instantly shuts his wife down with his own proclamation. "No, that's my job. I'll swear to you, I'd shoot that man stone dead."

"I'll get him," Tish swears. "Even if it kills me."

"Don't say that," her mother admonishes.

"I mean it. That man made us stand on deck and watch the islands of Japan burning. Millions of people. I swear to you, he's dead."

Violet laughs weakly, drawing all pairs of eyes to her as she struggles to sit upright. "That manipulative and murderous bastard has done more to me than he has to any of you. I've lived hundreds of years and thousands of lives, but he's always been there to tear them all apart and kill whatever family I made. I've fought against him many times, and I will gladly do it for the rest of time for what he's done."

"Vi," Jack pleads for her to stop. "You don't have to do this."

"If anyone one of us is to kill him, it will be me, and it will be with my own two fucking hands!" Tears burn in her eyes at her rising rage. "He's killed billions and billions of innocents in his pursuit of domination, but he's gone much too far this time. Slaughtering the race in fucking existence that I was brought up by! He's going to fucking burn in hell!"

"This is about more than this past year with the Toclafane, isn't it?" He doesn't miss Violet's flinch at the alien species' name. "What aren't you telling me, little love?"

"Do you know what the Toclafane really are, Jack? Do you?"

"What are you saying?"

"Utopia." Violet cackles insanely, making the mortals shuffle further away from the halfling in their cells. "It doesn't fucking exist! Utopia is a lie we're told through all of time and space, and it's a place with diamonds in the sky and eternal youth and life and love, but it's not real." She looks at Jack with wild grey-blue eyes. "Where do you think they all went to, lover? All those hundreds of innocent Humans at the end of the universe."

Jack's light blue eyes widen in realisation. "The Toclafane..."

"They're the Humans from the future."

"And the paradox machine is caused by the Master bringing them back to kill their ancestors."

 


	24. 𝟘𝟚𝟘 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

The guards bring Martha in onto the Flight Deck. Clive, Francine and Tish are already there on one side, and Jack and Violet on the other. They're all facing the Master, Lucy and an aged beyond recognition Doctor, and it hurts Violet to see what remains of the good of her species to be reduced to this by what remains of the evil of her species.

The Master holds out his hand towards Martha. "Your teleport device, in case you thought I'd forgotten."

Martha throws Jack's Vortex Manipulator to the Master.

"And now, kneel. Down below, the fleet is ready to launch. Two hundred thousand ships set to burn across the universe. Are we ready?" A voice makes a reply and the Master grins widely. "Three minutes to align the black hole converters. Counting down. I never could resist a ticking clock. My children, are you ready?"

"We will fly and blaze and slice," the Toclafane chorus. "We will fly and blaze and slice."

"At zero, to mark this day, the child Martha Jones, will die. My first blood. Any last words?"

Martha remains quiet, but Violet makes a scoffing sound at the words "my first blood" coming from the murderer's lips.

"No? Such a disappointment, this one. Days of old, Doctor, you had companions who could absorb the Time Vortex. This one's useless. Bow your head. And so it falls to me, as Master of all, to establish from this day, a new order of Time Lords. From this day forward "

Martha laughs quietly and Violet can't help the amused quirk of her lips.

"What?" the Master demands. "What's so funny?"

"A gun."

"What about it?"

"A gun in four parts?"

"Yes, and I destroyed it."

"A gun in four parts scattered across the world? I mean, come on, did you really believe that?"

"What do you mean?"

"As if I would ask her to kill," the Doctor admonishes in an ancient voice.

The Master shrugs and grins. "Oh well, it doesn't matter. I've got her exactly where I want her."

"But I knew what Professor Docherty would do," Martha rebukes. "The Resistance knew about her son. I told her about the gun, so she'd get me here at the right time."

"Oh, but you're still going to die."

"Don't you want to know what I was doing, travelling the world?"

"Tell me."

"I told a story, that's all. No weapons, just words. I did just what the Doctor said. I went across the continents all on my own. And everywhere I went, I found the people, and I told them my story. I told them about the Doctor. And I told them to pass it on, to spread the word so that everyone would know about the Doctor."

"Faith and hope? Is that all?"

"No, because I gave them an instruction, just as the Doctor said." Martha stands up. "I told them that if everyone thinks of one word, at one specific time."

"Nothing will happen. Is that your weapon? Prayer?"

"Right across the world, in word, just one thought at one moment but with fifteen satellites."

"What?" the Master demands in disbelief.

"The Archangel Network," Jack reminds the murderer with a grin, Violet's soft laughter echoing his words.

"A telepathic field binding the whole Human race together, with all of them, every single person on Earth, thinking the same thing at the same time," Martha continues. "And that word is Doctor."

 _Zero_. The Doctor and his cage starts to glow, and the Master begins to freak out at that, telling him to stop - telling them all to stop. Jack helps Violet up from the floor, and she stands on weak and shaking legs beside the 51st Century time traveller.

"Doctor," Jack recites, eyes closed. "Doctor."

Violet smiles gently at the ancient man she's come to love more than she should. "Doctor.  _My_  Doctor."

"Doctor," Francine repeats.

The crowd on the monitor chant his name.

Lucy closes her eyes. "Doctor."

The Doctor is back to his previous centegenarian form. "I've had a whole year to tune myself into the psychic network and integrate with its matrices."

Everyone continues to say his name despite the Master's commands to stop.

"The one thing you can't do. Stop them thinking." The Doctor is back to his normal appearance. "Tell me the Human race is degenerate now, when they can do this."

Martha runs to Francine and Tish for a group hug, and Violet clings to Jack's side.

"No!" The Master fires laser screwdriver at the Doctor, but the energy field is still around him and it doesn't get through.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor murmurs. "I'm so sorry."

"Then I'll kill them."

The Doctor stretches out his hand and the screwdriver flies from the Master's hand. It's a sight to see: the Doctor floating towards the Master, and the latter curling up into a ball in the corner as the conversation progresses and the Doctor puts his arms around him. Violet would make an adoring sound if the monster in the Doctor's arms had any version of Human decency, but he doesn't.

The Doctor turns to Jack and Violet. "Captain, the paradox machine!"

"You men, with me!" Jack places Violet on the floor of the Flight Deck and kisses her forehead. "You stay here."

The Doctor spots the Master activating the manipulator, and grabs it with a cry of "No!". They both disappear to the quarry, leaving six billion spheres heading right for everyone left on the  _Valiant_.


	25. 𝟘𝟚𝟙 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕒𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 𝕃𝕠𝕣𝕕𝕤 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

Jack and the guards find three spheres guarding the TARDIS, so they start shooting at them. The rest are hurtling back down from higher in the sky towards the  _Valiant_.

"Can't get in," a guard protests. "We'd get slaughtered."

"Yeah," Jack agrees. "Happens to me a lot."

Jack goes into the TARDIS alone and empties his machine gun clip at the paradox machine. At the quarry, the ground shakes as the Doctor and the Master struggle for the Vortex Manipulator. They disappear together and arrive back on the  _Valiant_. The spheres disappear and the ship shakes. Papers are flying everywhere. Martha gets thrown into the Doctor's arms.

"Everyone get down!" the Doctor orders. "Time is reversing!"

The Master is hanging onto some railings. Francine sees a pistol on the floor, but Violet somehow beats the older woman to it. Meanwhile, the Winds of Time are creating havoc and panic on the ground, until, finally the people, the rockets and the statues disappear. Calm returns and a red bus drives around Piccadilly Circus.

Everyone on the  _Valiant_  stands on shaky legs except for Violet, who is clutching the pistol to her stomach, out of reach from the older dark-skinned woman. The Humans are all still feeling the aftershocks of having time re-written in front of their very eyes, but all Violet feels is unbelievably sick. It's like her stomach is going to attempt to force itself out through her mouth, and that's not something she particularly wants to see again.

"The paradox is broken. We've reverted back, one year and one day. Two minutes past eight in the morning." A voice on the radio sounds and the Doctor allows a small smile. "Just after the President was killed, but just before the spheres arrived. Everything back to normal. Planet Earth restored. None of it happened. The rockets, the terror. It never was."

"What about the spheres?" Martha asks.

"Trapped at the end of the universe."

"But I can remember it," Francine says.

"We're at the eye of the storm. The only ones who'll ever know." The Doctor finally realises the new face on board. "Oh, hello. You must be Mister Jones. We haven't actually met."

The Master runs for the door just as Jack is coming in.

"Whoa, big fella!" Jack says, dragging the brunet back into the room of vengeful people. "You don't want to miss the party. Cuffs. So, what do we do with this one?"

The Jones family throw a number of suggestions at the man, but they're all about killing the Master. Violet clambers to her feet, everyone too focused on the Master to realise that she's the one with the gun in this situation

"No, that's not the solution," the Doctor says, shaking his head.

Violet steps forward on shaking legs and points the pistol at the being who has haunted her dreams for centuries. "You killed everyone I have ever loved in one way or another, and you've killed me too. What reason do I have not to shoot you, you murderous bastard?!"

"Go on," the Master goads. "Do it."

"Violet," the Doctor calls softly, but she barely responds. "You're better than this."

"No, I'm really not. You've seen only a little of what I've been through, and hardly the worst of it. I am a killer, but not without reason, and hardly a man or woman or alien dead or alive or to be born could ever say the same."

"No. The only safe place for him is the TARDIS."

"You mean you're just going to keep me?" the Master asks in disgust. "I'd rather your pet halfling shoot me."

Violet shoots the Master before Lucy has the chance, leaving the woman in red shocked and with a clean conscience. The Doctor catches the Master as he staggers back, and Violet lowers the gun, staring at the dying man with a blank expression, feeling absolutely nothing. Jack hurries over to Violet and takes the pistol from her, shoving it into the pocket of his pants.

"Always the women," the Master laughs.

"I didn't think she'd do it," the Doctor apologises.

"Dying in your arms. Happy now?"

"You're not dying. Don't be stupid. It's only a bullet. Just Regenerate."

"No."

"One little bullet. Come on."

"I guess you don't know me so well. I refuse."

"Regenerate. Just Regenerate. Please. Please! Just Regenerate. Come on."

"And spend the rest of my life imprisoned with you?"

"You've got to. Come on. It can't end like this. You and me, all the things we've done. Axons. Remember the Axons? And the Daleks. We're the only two left. There's no one else. Regenerate!"

Violet recoils further into the warmth of Jack's arms at the Doctor's words, and even he has a rather annoyed expression on his face at the words.

"How about that? I win," the Master cheers weakly with a smile. "Will it stop, Doctor? The drumming. Will it stop?"

The Master dies and the Doctor cries out in anguish. What doesn't feel like too much later, but at dark, the Doctor lights the Master's funeral pyre then walks away, brushing past where Violet still clings to Jack for physical and emotional support.

A few hours later, the four time travellers are back at Roald Dahl Plass, and it's like nothing happened. In the reality of the humans around them, nothing did happen, but, for a handful, a year and a day happened, and it was a living hell. Right now, four of them are leaning against a metal railing, Violet finally having enough strength to stand on her own, and having had more of the 51st Century medicine to straighten her mind out.

"Time was, every single one of these people knew your name," Martha muses, looking around at them. "Now they've all forgotten you."

"Good," the Doctor replies.

"Back to work," Jack says with a sigh, giving Violet a soft kiss. "I'm going to miss you, little love. Come visit me some time."

Violet smiles and slips a perfectly good Vortex Manipulator into Jack's trenchcoat pocket with a wink. "Going to miss you too, Jacky Boy. We'll see each other soon though, as well as everyone else."

"I really don't mind, though," the Doctor continues. "Come with me and Violet."

"I had plenty of time to think that past year - the year that never was - and I kept thinking about that team of mine."

"Ianto," Violet coughs.

Jack laughs and gives her a cheeky look. "Like you said, Doctor, responsibility."

"Defending the Earth," the Doctor declares. "Can't argue with that."

The Doctor takes Jack's hand and exposes the Vortex Manipulator on his wrist.

"Hey, I need that," Jack groans for a second, before he realises just what Violet gave him.

"I can't have you walking around with a time travelling teleport. You could go anywhere, twice. The second time to apologise." The Doctor sonics the manipulator.

"And what about me? Can you fix that? Will I ever be able to die?"

"Nothing I can do. You're an impossible thing, Jack."

"Been called that before." He hops down from where they're standing. "Sir. Ma'am. But I keep wondering. What about ageing? Because I can't die but I keep getting older. The odd little grey hair, you know? What happens if I live for a million years?"

"I really don't know."

"Okay, vanity. Sorry. Yeah, can't help it. Used to be a poster boy when I was a kid living on the Boeshane Peninsula. Tiny little place. I was the first one ever to be signed up for the Time Agency. They were so proud of me. The Face of Boe, they called me. Hmm. I'll see you." Jack head off towards  _Torchwood_ 's secret entrance.

"No," the Doctor breathes in disbelief.

"It can't be," Martha agrees.

"No. Definitely not. No. No."

"Oh, but it is," Violet laughs.

Not too much later, they're outside Francine's home. The Doctor watches Francine, Martha, Clive and Tish inside the house from across the street where the TARDIS is parked, then goes inside the blue box to Violet. His spare hand is now attached to the base of the console.

"Doctor, I'm sorry," Violet murmurs, twisting and pulling her fingers. "I know I should have put the gun down, but, after all that he's done, I couldn't."

The Doctor smiles warmly at the other remaining member of his race. "It's alright, Violet."

"That woman, Lucy, she would have shot him if I hadn't of. She didn't deserve to have been forced to stay by that monster's side for years, and then have his blood on her hands."

Martha slips inside the TARDIS before the Doctor can respond.

"Right then, off we go. The open road. There is a burst of starfire right now over the coast of Meta Sigmafolio. Oh, the sky is like oil on water. Fancy a look?" The Doctor scurries around the console, spouting ideas when both females know it's not going to happen. "Or back in time. We could, I don't know, Charles the Second? Henry the Eighth. I know. What about Agatha Christie? I'd love to meet Agatha Christie. I bet she's brilliant. Okay."

"I just can't."

He slows to a stop and stares at Martha. "Yeah."

"Spent all these years training to be a doctor. Now I've got people to look after. They saw half the planet slaughtered and they're devastated. I can't leave them."

"Of course not. Thank you. Martha Jones, you saved the world."

"Yes, I did. I spent a lot of time with you two thinking I was third best, but you know what? I am good. You going to be alright?"

"Always. Yeah. I've got Violet to keep me company."

"Right then. Bye." Martha leaves, then goes back inside, making Violet grin. "Because the thing is, it's like my friend Vicky. She lived with this bloke, student housing, there were five of them all packed in, and this bloke was called Sean. And she loved him. She did. She completely adored him. Spent all day long talking about him."

"Is this going anywhere?" the Doctor asks, giving Violet a confused look when she facepalms.

"Yes, because he never looked at her twice. I mean, he liked her, but that was it. And she wasted years pining after him. Years of her life. Because while he was around, she never looked at anyone else. And I told her, I always said to her, time and time again, I said, get out. So this is me, getting out." She throws her mobile phone to him. "Keep that, because I'm not having you disappear. If that rings, when that rings, you'd better come running. Got it?"

"Got it."

"I'll see you again, mister." Martha smiles. "See you, Violet."

Martha leaves and the TARDIS dematerialises.


	26. 𝟘𝟚𝟚 ▹ ℙ𝕝𝕒𝕟𝕖𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕀𝕔𝕖 𝕒𝕟𝕕 𝕊𝕟𝕠𝕨

The red-headed woman from what feels like years ago to Violet drops her car keys into the same bin the Doctor threw his pen into earlier that day. The half Gallifreyan watches with a strange sense of deja vu as Donna goes over to some people by the police barriers and speaks to a blonde girl.

Donna leaves the blonde and walks towards Violet, marching into the TARDIS. Just as the Australian girl goes to do the same, the blonde turns around to face her. Violet's stomach drops and tears fill her eyes, hands coming up to cover her mouth as the blonde smiles at Violet. It is Rose Tyler. She walks away and disappears, making Violet blink several times before turning and heading into the TARDIS, deciding not to tell the Doctor.

"Off we go, then," Donna says.

"Here it is. The TARDIS," the Doctor marvels dramatically. "It's bigger on the inside than it is on the outside."

"Oh, I know that bit. Although frankly, you could turn the heating up."

Violet laughs. She's missed having this sassy woman around.

"So, whole wide universe, where do you want to go?" the Doctor asks.

"Oh, I know exactly the place."

"Which is?"

"Two and a half miles that way."

Violet smiles when she sees that Wilfred is packing up for the night, stopping when he sees the TARDIS flying nearby. He looks through his telescope and sees Donna waving from the TARDIS door. The Doctor and Violet wave to the older man too. After that, they fly away into space and time, with no specific destination in mind. The TARDIS is rocking back and forth in flight for a few moments before the Doctor and Violet stop it.

He turns to Donna with a grin. "Set the controls to random. Mystery tour. Outside that door could be any planet, anywhere, anywhen in the whole wide u- Are you alright?"

"Terrified," the sassy Brit retorts. "I mean, history's one thing but an alien planet?"

"I could always take you home."

"Yeah, don't laugh at me."

"I know what it's like. Everything you're feeling right now. The fear, the joy, the wonder? I get that."

"Same here," Violet agrees, pulling on a  _Riverdale_  hoodie that she convinced the Doctor to let her go back to her time and get. "It never goes away."

"Seriously?" Donna asks. "After all this time?"

"Yeah," the Doctor replies with a smile. "Why do you think I keep going?"

"Oh. All right then, you and me both. This is barmy. I was born in Chiswick. I've only ever had package holidays. Now I'm here. This is so... I mean it's... I don't know, it's all sort of... I don't even know what the word is." Donna goes outside. "Oh, I've got the word. Freezing."

Violet rushes out and cries with glee, dropping to the ground and making a snow angel like the child she is. She sits up a moment later and grins, snow clinging to her hair and clothes.

The Doctor steps out. "Snow! Oh, real snow. Proper snow at last. That's more like it. Lovely. What do you think?"

"Bit cold," Donna says shortly.

"Look at that view."

Massive icicles hang from bridges of rock over vast ravines.

"Yep. Beautiful, cold view."

"Millions of planets, millions of galaxies, and we're on this one. Molto bene. Bellissimo, says Donna, born in Chiswick. All you've got is a life of work and sleep, and telly and rent and tax and takeaway dinners, all birthdays and Christmases and two weeks holiday a year, and then you end up here. Donna Noble, citizen of the Earth, standing on a different planet. How about that Donna?"

Donna has disappeared.

"Donna?"

Donna comes out of the TARDIS in a big fur coat with a hood. "Sorry, you were saying?"

Violet laughs and lets the Doctor pull her up from the snow, standing close to him and soaking up his body heat.

"Better?" the Time Lord asks.

The Human gives him a sassy look. "Lovely, thanks."

"Comfy?"

"Yep."

"Can you hear anything inside that?"

"Pardon?"

"All right, I was saying, citizen of the Earth..."

A space rocket glides slowly above them.

"Rocket." Donna stares at it in wonder. "Blimey, a real proper rocket. Now that's what I call a spaceship."

Violet laughs at the Doctor's wounded expression.

"You've got a box, he's got a Ferrari. Come on, let's go see where he's going."


	27. 𝟘𝟚𝟛 ▹ 𝟜𝟙𝟚𝟞

Violet laughs happily and skips ahead of the Doctor and Donna, her grey-blue eyes flying around, taking in everything. A delicate music can be heard as they cross a rock bridge, and it makes the half Gallifreyan stop in her tracks, frozen in place as the reality of the song strikes her.

The Doctor stops beside her. "Hold on, can you hear that? Donna, take your hood down."

"What?" Donna demands, ripping her hood down.

"That noise is like a song. Over there."

"I've heard this before," Violet breathes. "So familiar..."

Violet pivots and darts in the direction of the song, falling to her knees beside where an Ood lies on the ground, partly covered in snow. The Doctor joins her a moment later, followed by Donna, but the Human woman only stands, staring down at the alien Violet is cradling the head of in her lap, softly humming a more comforting tune of the Ood.

"What is it?" Donna asks in both wonder and disgust.

"An Ood," Violet replies softly as the Doctor says, "He's called an Ood."

"But it's face..." the Earth woman trails off, deterred by the tentacles coming down from the Ood's face.

"Donna, don't. Not now," the Doctor berates. "It's a he, not an it. Give me a hand, Violet."

"Sorry."

"I don't know where the heart is. I don't know if he's got a heart. Talk to him, keep him going."

"It's all right, we've got you," Violet assures the Ood in mid song, giving Donna a look to talk to the dying Ood.

"Er, what's your name?" the human asks, making Violet scoff.

"Designated Ood Delta 50," the Ood replies, the ball in his hand lighting up.

Donna speaks into his translator ball. "My name's Donna."

Violet snickers softly before continuing her humming.

The Doctor gives her a bemused look. "No. No, no, no. You don't need to."

"Sorry. Oh, God," Donna says. "This is the Doctor. Just what you need, a doctor. Couldn't be better, hey?"

"You've been shot," the Doctor informs the Ood.

"The circle..." Delta 50's voice trails off.

"No, don't try to talk."

"The circle must be broken."

"Circle? What do you mean? Delta 50, what circle? Delta 50? What circle?"

Delta 50 sits up with a roar, and red eyes, then exhales and falls back dead. Violet stares down at the Ood with horrified eyes, not having seen this disease for centuries; since the last time she had been in the 42nd Century, fighting a war to free the Ood from slavery.

"He's gone," Donna says softly, closing the Ood's eyes gently.

"Careful," the Time Lord warns.

"There you are, sweetheart. We were too late. What do we do, do we bury him?"

"The snow'll take care of that." The Doctor stands.

"Who was he? What's an Ood?"

"They're servants of humans in the 42nd Century," Violet says with disgust, gently placing the Ood's head on the compact snow and standing, dusting the snow from her jeans. "Mildly telepathic. That was the song. It was his mind calling out."

"I couldn't hear anything," Donna muses. "He sang as he was dying."

The Doctor's eyes turn dark. "His eyes turned red."

"What's that mean?"

"Trouble," Violet seethes, walking off.

"Come on. The Ood are harmless. They're completely benign," the Doctor explains, walking towards the buildings in the distance. "Except, the last time I met them, there was this force, like a stronger mind, powerful enough to take them over."

"What sort of force?" Donna asks, hurrying after the two.

"Oh, long story."

"Long walk."

"It was the Devil."

"If you're going to take the mickey, I'll just put my hood back up."

"Must be something different this time though. Something closer to home. Ah ha! Civilisation."

Violet is already standing around with a group of people by the time the Doctor and Donna join her, and she's already seething, hands clenched into fists by her side. The Doctor gently pries one hand open and links his fingers with hers, holding her hand and giving her some comfort, as well as grounding her.

"Sorry, sorry, sorry. Late. Don't mind us," the Doctor says cheerily. "Hello. The guards let us through."

"And you would be?" Solana asks.

"The Doctor and Donna Noble."

"Representing the Noble Corporation PLC Limited, Intergalactic," Donna adds with a sharp smile.

"Must have fallen off my list. My apologies. Won't happen again," Solana apologises. "Now then, Doctor Noble, Mrs Noble, if you'd like to come with me."

Violet laughs. "As if!"

"Oh, no, no, no, no," the Doctor denies with a wild look. "We're not married."

"We're so not married," Donna agrees.

"Never."

"Never ever."

"But we will be," Violet whispers into the Doctor's ear, making him grin down at her.

"Of course," Solana says with a smile. "And here are your information packs, vouchers inside. Now if you'd like to come with me, the Executive Suites are nice and warm."

An alarm sounds.

"Oh, what's that?" the Doctor asks. "That sounds like an alarm."

"Oh, it's just a siren for the end of the work shift," Solana explains, but Violet has the feeling that the woman isn't exactly telling them the truth. "Now then, this way, quick as you can."

They're all bustled into a warm building, allowing Violet to shrug off her  _Riverdale_ hoodie and tie it around her waist, showing off her white, classic  _Sonic the Hedgehog_  t-shirt. However, it's not just that which she is revealing; it's also the plethora of scars littering her arms, both from wars on alien worlds in this body, and from her own personal, inner war that she has been fighting for close to a decade.

Donna tries not to stare, but she can't help the pain that spikes in her, or the pained expression that crosses her face. However, the Doctor, having seen them, and more, before, simply gives his current lover a once over before taking hold of Violet's hand and following Solana into a room full of people and three Ood standing on small platforms, other Ood taking round trays of drinks to the people.

"As you can see, the Ood are happy to serve, and we keep them in facilities of the highest standard. Here at the Double O, that's Ood Operations, we like to think of the Ood as our trusted friends. We keep the Ood healthy, safe, and educated. We don't just breed the Ood. We make them better. Because at heart, what is an Ood, but a reflection of us? If your Ood is happy, then you'll be happy, too," Solana recites like she's reading a pamphlet. "I'd now like to point out a new innovation from Ood Operations. We've introduced a variety package with the Ood translator ball. You can now have the standard setting. How are you today, Ood?"

"I'm perfectly well, thank you," the first Ood replies.

"Or perhaps after a stressful day, a little something for the gentlemen. And how are you, Ood?"

"All the better for seeing you," the second Ood says in a husky female voice that makes Violet shiver.

"And the comedy classic option. Ood, you dropped something."

"D'oh," the third Ood says in a dead-on impression of Homer Simpson from  _The Simpsons_.

Everyone laughs, but Violet sneers in disgust, holding the Doctor's hand tighter.

"All that for only five additional credits. The details are in your brochures," Solana informs with a smile. "Now, there's plenty more food and drink, so don't hold back." She then leaves.

The Doctor goes to her lectern and uses its computer access to light up the big screen, Violet hovering behind him. "Ah, got it. The Ood Sphere, I've been to this solar system before. Years ago. Ages. Close to the planet Sense Sphere. Let's widen out. The year 4126. That is the Second Great and Bountiful Human Empire."

Donna is in shock. "4126? It's 4126. I'm in 4126."

"It's good, isn't it?"

"What's the Earth like now?"

"Bit full. But you see, the Empire stretches out across three galaxies."

"It's weird. I mean, it's brilliant, but. Back home, the papers and the telly, they keep saying we haven't got long to live. Global warming, flooding, all the bees disappearing."

"Yeah. That thing about the bees is odd."

"But look at us. We're everywhere. Is that good or bad, though? I mean, are we like explorers? Or more like a virus?"

"Sometimes I wonder."


	28. 𝟘𝟚𝟜 ▹ 𝕊𝕠𝕟𝕘𝕤 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕆𝕠𝕕

After a huge ass mess that took up quite a lot of time, Violet, the Doctor and Donna are running down a corridor, guards chasing after them with loaded pistols. It's at times like these that Violet wishes she had taken her alien blasters from the  _Torchwood_ base in Cardiff when she was given the chance.

"This way," the Doctor calls, turning the corner and leading them to a door. "Oh, can you hear it? I didn't need the map. I should have listened." The Doctor sonics the door lock once they're inside.

"You're honestly such an idiot sometimes, Doctor," Violet chastises with a grin, looking around.

"Hold on," Donna exclaims. "Does that mean we're locked in?"

"Listen. Listen, listen, listen, listen," the Doctor says frantically.

Violet pauses and ethereal music fills her ears, this one making her gasp out in anguish and fall against the wall. She hasn't heard such a song for many years, and it's more painful than she recalls. The half Gallifreyan forces herself upright and flicks on the light, revealing groups of Ood sitting in cages. They turn away from Violet, the Doctor and Donna.

"They look different to the others," Donna muses.

"That's because they're natural born Ood, unprocessed, before they're adapted to slavery," Violet spits.

"Unspoilt," the Doctor agrees. "That's their song."

"I can't hear it," Donna says sadly.

"That may be a good thing, Donna," Violet murmurs. "It's painful."

"Do you want to?" the Doctor asks.

"Yeah," the British woman replies.

"It's the song of captivity."

"Let me hear it."

"Face me." The Doctor makes a mind-meld with Donna. "Open your mind. That's it. Hear it, Donna. Hear the music."

The song is sad and beautiful, and it makes Donna cry. "Take it away."

"Sure?"

"I can't bear it."

The Doctor disconnects her from the telepathic field, and Violet bites her tongue to hold back her urge to tell Donna that she warned her. He explains to Donna that he can hear it all the time, and then the Doctor sonics open the cage, watching as the Ood cower in the corner.

"What are you holding? Show me. Friend," Violet asks softly, crouching in front of one of the Ood. "Violet, Doctor, Donna. Friends. Let me see. Look at me. Let me see. That's it. That's it, go on. Go on."

The Ood opens his hands. He is holding a small brain.

"Is that...?" Donna is in too much disbelief to continue.

"It's a brain. A hind brain," the Doctor explains. "The Ood are born with a secondary brain. Like the amygdala in humans, it processes memory and emotions. You get rid of that, you wouldn't be Donna any more. You'd be like an Ood. A processed Ood."

"So the company cuts off their brains?"

"And they stitch on the translator." The Doctor locks himself, Violet and Donna in with the Ood as the guards burst in. "What you going to do, then? Arrest me? Lock me up? Throw me in a cage? Well, you're too late. Ha!"

Minutes later, the Doctor and Donna are handcuffed to some pipes, and Violet is standing by Halpen's side, shaking her head at the two. You see, Violet didn't lie about who she was in this century - she used her high status to get into this place once before, and she will do it as many times as it takes to free the Ood - just like the rest of the Friends Of The Ood are trying to do, but outside this organisation.

They all continue to argue until Halpen leaves, leaving Violet with the Doctor and Donna. She shakes her head at the two and opens the door, accidentally letting in three Ood with red eyes. Violet moves back and stands beside her friends as they try to convince the Ood that they're friends. They continue to repeat themselves while the unconverted Ood connect with the others and share their knowledge of Violet, the Doctor and Donna.

Eventually they're all deemed to be friends, and the Ood release the time travellers. The next thing Violet knows is that they're running through the halls and corridors of building, trying to find the Ood brain.

"I don't know where it is," the Doctor rants. "I don't know where they've gone."

"What are we looking for?" Donna exclaims.

"It might be underground, like some sort of cave, or a cavern, or..."

The Doctor, Violet and Donna are knocked down by an explosion.

"All right?" the Doctor asks, helping the two up.

As the smoke clears, Ood Sigma is standing behind them.

The Doctor sonics the controls to a door and they get in. He looks down on -

"The Ood Brain. Now it all makes sense, That's the missing link. The third element, binding them together. Forebrain, hind brain, and this, the telepathic centre. It's a shared mind, connecting all the Ood in song."

"Cargo. I can always go into cargo," Halpen muses. "I've got the rockets, I've got the sheds. Smaller business. Much more manageable, without livestock.

"He's mined the area," Ryder informs.

"You're going to kill it?" Donna exclaims.

"They found that thing centuries ago beneath the Northern Glacier."

"Those pylons..." Violet trails off.

"In a circle," Donna exclaims. "The circle must be broken."

"Damping the telepathic field," the Doctor mutters. "Stopping the Ood from connecting for two hundred years."

"And you, Ood Sigma, you brought them here," Halpen growls at Ood Sigma. "I expected better."

"My place is at your side, sir," Ood Sigma says.

"Still subservient. Good Ood."

"If that barrier thing's in place, how come the Ood started breaking out?" Donna asks.

"Maybe it's taken centuries to adapt," the Doctor guesses. "The subconscious reaching out?"

"But the process was too slow. It had to be accelerated," Ryder growls. "You should never give me access to the controls, Mister Halpen. I lowered the barrier to its minimum. Friends Of The Ood, sir. It's taken me ten years to infiltrate the company, and I succeeded."

"Yes. Yes, you did," Halpen agrees, throwing Ryder over the catwalk railing and onto the giant brain, which absorbs him.

Violet listens with faint interest as Donna accuses him of murder, finding nothing interesting in the conversation until Ood Sigma steps in and offers Halpen a drink. That catches her attention, and she turns her head to witness what is about to happen as the Ood continues to push for his "master" to have a drink.

"Have, have you poisoned me?" Halpen demands.

"Natural Ood must never kill, sir," Ood Sigma informs.

"What is that stuff?" the Doctor asks.

"Ood graft suspended in a biological compound, sir."

"What the hell does that mean?" Halpen growls.

"Oh, dear," the Doctor says.

"Tell me!"

"Funny thing, the subconscious. Takes all sorts of shapes. Came out in the red eye as revenge, came out in the rabid Ood as anger, and then there was patience. All that intelligence and mercy, focused on Ood Sigma. How's the hair loss, Mister Halpen?"

More hair comes away in Halpen's hand. "What have you done?"

"Oh, they've been preparing you for a very long time. And now you're standing next to the Ood Brain, Mister Halpen, can you hear it? Listen."

"What have you...? I'm not..." Halpen's face goes blank. He drops his gun, reaches for his head and peels the skin off. Then tentacles come out of his mouth.

"They, they turned him into an Ood?" Donna asks.

"Yep."

"He's an Ood."

"I noticed," the Doctor sasses.

Halpen sneezes and a small hind brain flops into his hands.

"He has become Oodkind, and we will take care of him," Ood Sigma informs.

"It's weird, being with you two," Donna muses. "I can't tell what's right and what's wrong any more."

"It's better that way," the Doctor assures her. "People who know for certain tend to be like Mister Halpen."

_Beep beep._

"Oh!" The Doctor deactivates the explosives. "That's better. And now, Sigma, would you allow me the honour?"

"It is yours, Doctor," Ood Sigma informs.

"Oh, yes! Stifled for two hundred years, but not any more. The circle is broken. The Ood can sing."

The current around the Brain is shut off and the song starts up, slow but happy.

"I can hear it!" Donna exclaims.

The fighting stops. The Ood raise their palms to the sky and join in.

"The message has gone out. That song resonated across the galaxies," Violet breathes with a welcome grin. "Everyone heard it. Everyone knows. The rockets are bringing them back. The Ood are coming home."

"We thank you, Doctor Donna, and Violet, friends of Oodkind," Ood Sigma says, the combination of the Doctor's and Donna's names making the hair rise on the back of Violet's neck. "And what of you now? Will you stay? There is room in the song for you."

"Oh, I've, I've sort of got a song of my own, thanks," the Doctor says, stuttering slightly.

"I think your song must end soon."

Violet's stomach drops. "No. It can't be that soon."

"Meaning?" the Doctor asks.

"Every song must end," Ood Sigma informs.

"Yeah. Er, what about you? You still want to go home?"

"No," Donna says. "Definitely not."

"Then we'll be off."

"Take this song with you," Ood Sigma says.

"We will," Donna replies with a smiles.

"Always," the Doctor promises.

"Until the end of everything," Violet agrees. "Until there's nothing left, and then past that."

"And know this, Doctor Donna and Violet. You will never be forgotten," Ood Sigma says. "Our children will sing of the Doctor Donna and Violet, and our children's children, and the wind and the ice and the snow will carry your names forever."


	29. 𝟘𝟚𝟝 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕠𝕔𝕥𝕠𝕣'𝕤 𝔻𝕒𝕦𝕘𝕙𝕥𝕖𝕣

The aftermath of the Sontarans attempt to take over Earth, kill a lot of humanity, or whatever they were planning on doing leaves Martha in the TARDIS with Violet, the Doctor and Donna. The door slams shut on its own and the time rotor activates, throwing everyone around. Violet cries out as her arm smashes hard against the railing, breaking the two large bones in her forearm.

"What?" the Doctor exclaims. "What?"

"Doctor, don't you dare," Martha yells angrily.

"No, no, no. I didn't touch anything. We're in flight. It's not me."

"Where are we going?" Donna demands.

"I don't know. It's out of control!"

"Doctor, just listen to me," Martha snaps. "You take me home. Take me home right now!"

Everyone is hanging on to the console, Martha holding on for dear life beside Donna, and the Doctor is looking around wildly, pressing buttons and trying to get the TARDIS to cooperate with him. Violet is holding on best she can with one arm - and her non-dominant arm at that!

"What the hell's it doing?" Donna asks.

"The control's not working," the Doctor exclaims before he gets thrown about and gets a look at the jar at the base of the time rotor. "I don't know where we're going, but my old hand's very excited about it."

"I thought that was just some freaky alien thing," Donna cries. "You telling me it's yours?"

"Well..."

"It got cut off," Violet groans, holding her broken arm to her body. "He grew a new one."

"You are completely impossible," Donna complains.

"Not impossible," the Doctor says with a grin. "Just a bit unlikely."

There's a bang, and sparks, then stillness and peace. Violet is thrown to the ground, pain flying through every nerve in her broken arm as she lands on it. Cursing in an ancient language, she forces herself upright and takes hold of the console, pulling up herself until she's standing on wobbly legs. The Doctor spares her a worried look before runs outside.

Violet pulls the monitor around and plays around with it until it shows what the outside looks like, and she can hear what is being said. It looks like a junk yard in a railway arch at night, the Doctor standing just outside the TARDIS alone until he's joined by Martha and Donna. Violet decides that it's best she stays inside, with a broken arm and all, it's not going to be much fun.

"Why would the TARDIS bring us here, then?" the Doctor asks himself.

"Oh, I love this bit," the dark-skinned woman says with a grin, making Violet smile.

"I thought you wanted to go home," Donna says in disbelief.

"I know, but all the same, it's that feeling you get."

"Like you swallowed a hamster?"

"Don't move!" a man orders. "Stay where you are! Drop your weapons."

Three men are pointing rifles at the time travellers, so they raise their hands.

"We're unarmed. Look, no weapons. Never any weapons," the Doctor assures the soldiers. "We're safe."

"Look at their hands," one of the men says. "They're clean."

"All right, process them," the first man orders. "Him first."

The two other soldiers take the Doctor.

"Oi, oi. What's wrong with clean hands?" the alien demands.

"What the fuck is going on?" Violet whispers in disbelief, eyes widening when she sees that the Doctor is taken to a machine and his right arm is pushed inside it.

"Leave him alone," Donna orders.

Something inside grabs his arm. "Something tells me this isn't about to check my blood pressure. Argh!"

"What are you doing to him?"

"Everyone gets processed," the man in charge explains shortly.

"It's taken a tissue sample. Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow. And extrapolated it. Some kind of accelerator?" The Doctor is released a moment later.

"Are you alright?" Martha asks, hurrying over and checking his hand.

There is a graze on the back of his hand. "What on earth? That's just..."

A pair of glass and metal doors open and a figure steps out from the steam of the brightly lit interior. She is a skinny blonde woman in combat boots and trousers, and a khaki t-shirt. She is handed a rifle and checks that it is ready for use as the Doctor explains to Martha that the girl came from him - a daughter of sorts.

"Did you say daughter?" Donna demands.

"Mmm," the Doctor says, a crease between his eyebrows. "Technically."

"Technically how?" Martha asks.

"Progenation. Reproduction from a single organism. Means one parent is biological mother and father. You take a sample of diploid cells, split them into haploids, then recombine them in a different arrangement and grow. Very quickly, apparently."

At that, Violet turns off the monitor and leaves the three of them to their haphazard adventure. She makes her way from the console room to the medical bay and, with the help of the TARDIS, puts a cast on her right arm, knowing that she will take a while to heal from this. Her healing is quicker than the average human due to her being half Gallifreyan, and that means she should be able to take the cast off in only two or three months - the healing bone assisted by the 51st Century medicine she got from Jack.

Hours pass and Violet falls asleep on the chair in the console room, curled up under one of the few jackets she stole from Jack when she returned to her time a few years back. She's woken what feels like only minutes later when the Doctor, Martha and Donna return to the TARDIS, Jenny nowhere in sight. Violet sits up and rubs her eyes with her right hand, forgetting about the cast until it scratches her face. The Doctor notices the addition and hurries over to his lover, carefully holding her broken arm.

"When did this happen?" he asks, scanning her arm with his Sonic Screwdriver.

"When we landed," Violet yawns. "It's alright though, my arm will be fully healed in a few months. Anyway, where's your daughter?"

"She died."

"Two hearts is what the scan the TARDIS did said, and she has the chance of coming back to life. She won't Regenerate like us, but she will come back from the dead when she dies."

The Doctor gives her a strange look. "How do you know that?"

Violet smiles cheekily. "We met almost two centuries ago, in my timestream anyway. She was a bit over a century old then, mentally a century anyway. A hundred years from now she and I will meet in her timestream, and we will fight and run and swap stories."

"You knew about today."

"Not exactly."

**: : : :**

The TARDIS is parked in a park, and Violet stands in the doorway as Martha, Donna and the Doctor say their goodbyes. Violet has never been one for goodbyes,

"Are you sure about this?" Donna asks.

"Yeah, positive," Martha assures with a small smile. "I can't do this anymore. You'll be the same one day."

"Not me. Never. How could I ever go back to normal life after seeing all this? I'm going to travel with that man for ever."

"Good luck."

"And you."

The Doctor walks on with Martha.

"We're making a habit of this," the Doctor teases.

"Yeah," Martha agrees. "And you'd think it'd get easier. All those things you've been ready to die for. I thought for a moment there you'd finally found something worth living for."

"Oh there's always something worth living for, Martha."

They hug.

"Bye, Doctor."

"Goodbye. Doctor Jones."

Donna and the Doctor walk back to the TARDIS. Martha looks at her engagement ring then goes into her home.


	30. 𝟘𝟚𝟞 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

"Books," the Doctor declares. "People never really stop loving books."

Violet grins and hurries out of the TARDIS. It's in a mostly empty area with just a few small cases of books, not what she expected, but happy nonetheless. Donna and the Doctor follow her out, the man coming to a stop beside the Australian girl and putting his arm around her shoulders. Violet smiles and looks around, taking in the century her first love, and the man she will always love, was born in.

"51st Century. By now you've got holovids, direct to brain downloads, fiction mist, but you need the smell," the Doctor continues, pressing a kiss to the top of Violet's head before walking away. "The smell of books, Donna. Deep breath."

They walk down a set of large, marble stairs

"The Library. So big it doesn't need a name. Just a great big The."

"Nice honeymoon location, lover," Violet teases the Time Lord.

"It's like a city," Donna breathes in disbelief.

"It's a world. Literally, a world. The whole core of the planet is the index computer. Biggest hard drive ever. And up here, every book ever written," the Doctor says with a smile. "Whole continents of Jeffrey Archer, Bridget Jones, Monty Python's Big Red Book. Brand new editions, specially printed."

They look over a balcony onto roofs below.

"We're near the equator, so this must be biographies," the Doctor decides. "I love biographies."

"Yeah, very you," Donna teases.

"Always a death at the end," Violet agrees in a somewhat small voice.

"You need a good death. Without death, there'd only be comedies," the Doctor rebukes. "Dying gives us size." Donna picks up a book and the Doctor takes it from her. "Way-a. Spoilers."

"What?" Donna complains.

"These books are from your future. You don't want to read ahead. Spoil all the surprises. Like peeking at the end."

"Isn't travelling with you one big spoiler?"

"I try to keep you away from major plot developments. Which, to be honest, I seem to be very bad at, because you know what? This is the biggest library in the universe. So where is everyone? It's silent." The Doctor uses his screwdriver on a nearby information screen, bringing it online.

"The library?"

Violet shakes her head. "The planet. The whole planet."

"Maybe it's a Sunday," Donna tries.

"No, I never land on Sundays." The Doctor grins. "Sundays are boring."

"Well, maybe everyone's really, really quiet."

"Yeah, maybe. But they'd still show up on the system."

"Doctor, why are we here? Really, why?"

"Oh, you know, just passing."

"No, seriously. It was all let's hit the beach, then suddenly we're in a library. Why?"

"Now that's interesting."

"What?"

"Scanning for life forms. If I do a scan looking for your basic humanoids. You know, your book readers, few limbs and a face, apart from us, I get nothing. Zippo, nada. See? Nobody home."

"But if we widen the parameters to any kind of life..." Violet types a few things and the screen says  _"Error 1,000,000,000,000 lifeform number capped at maximum record."_

"A million, million," the Doctor says. "Gives up after that. A million, million, and not a sound. A million. million life forms, and silence in the library."

Violet shrugs and walks back the way they came, knowing that something is seriously wrong in The Library, but being unable to put her finger on it. She can hear the voices of her friends considering about whether or not the books are alive, and, as they both reach slowly for a book, a voice makes them jump. They return to the mostly empty room to find Violet standing there. A vaguely humanoid sculpture by a curved desk turns its head and speaks with a female voice from a small face on its surface.

"I am Courtesy Node seven one zero slash aqua," the Node greets. "Please enjoy the Library and respect the personal access codes of all your fellow readers, regardless of species or hygiene taboo."

"That face, it looks real," Donna says, a little put-off by it.

"Yeah, don't worry about it," the Doctor says.

"A statue with a real face, though? It's a hologram or something, isn't it?"

"No, but really, it's fine."

"Additional. There follows a brief message from the Head Librarian for your urgent attention. It has been edited for tone and content by a Felman Lux Automated Decency Filter," the Node continues. "Message follows:  _"Run. For God's sake, run. No way is safe. The library has sealed itself, we can't. Oh, they're here. Argh. Slarg. Snick."_  Message ends. Please switch off your mobile comm. units for the comfort of other readers."

"So that's why we're  _really_ here," Violet says with a mocking pout that quickly morphs into a grin. "This is going to be a fun honeymoon."

"Any other messages, same date stamp?" the Doctor asks, winking at Violet.

"One additional message," the Node replies monotonously. "This message carries a Felman Lux coherency warning of five zero eleven-"

"Yeah, yeah, fine, fine, fine. Just play it."

"Message follows:  _"Count the shadows. For God's sake, remember, if you want to live, count the shadows."_  Message ends."

Violet's muscles freeze and she feels as though ice water has been poured over her. "Doctor, it's them."

"Donna?" the Doctor says warily.

"Yeah?" the redhead replies.

"Stay out of the shadows."

"Why, what's in the shadows?"

The Doctor doesn't reply, so Donna turns to Violet. However, the young girl is still partially frozen in terror, her eyes flying around the room in a desperate search for what she knows lingers in the shadows. She forces her feet to move, and, moments later, all three of them are walking through the stacks of The Library, searching for something.

"So, we weren't just in the neighbourhood," Donna accuses.

"Yeah, I kind of, sort of lied a bit. I got a message on the psychic paper." The Doctor pulls out the psychic paper which reads: 'The library come as soon as you can. x' in handwriting familiar to Violet. "What do you think? Cry for help?"

"Cry for help with a kiss?"

"Oh, we've all done that."

"Who's it from?"

"No idea."

"I recognise the writing," Violet murmurs, turning around and freezing. "Doctor."

"So why did we come here?" Donna sighs. "Why did you-"

"Donna," the Doctor says sharply, eyes flickering to his new wife as she begins to back away as the lights behind them are continuing to go out.

"What's happening?" Donna demands.

"Run!"

They can't get the nearest door open, and Violet has to suffer through her new husband and Donna bickering about how his Sonic Screwdriver can't be used on wood.

"What, it doesn't do wood?" Donna sasses angrily.

"Hang on, hang on. I can vibrate the molecules, fry the bindings. I can shatterline the interface."

"Oh, get out of the way!" Violet screeches, hardly waiting for them to move before she kicks the door open. The three of them hurry in at that and slam the door closed behind them.

"Oh. Hello," the Doctor says, leaning down to look into the metal globe. "Sorry to burst on you like this. Okay if we stop here for a bit?"

The Doctor, Violet and Donna watch as the small metal globe falls to the ground. The former picks it up and turns it in his hands, assessing the globe.

"What is it?" Donna asks.

"Security camera," the Doctor says. "Switched itself off."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So, altogether, there's like 11 chapters for 'Silence in the Library' and 'Forest of the Dead' because I didn't want to miss any of it! River and Violet are going to have a special relationship considering they're both wives of the Doctor, but at different points in time.
> 
> \- Chey xo -


	31. 𝟘𝟚𝟟 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

The Doctor is using his sonic screwdriver on the security camera, Violet receiving the readings from his screwdriver with her sonic watch.

“Nice door skills, Violet,” the Time Lord appreciates.

“Yeah, well, you know, boyfriends and girlfriends,” Violet says half-jokingly, the pain evident in her voice. “Sometimes you need the element of surprise.”

“What was that? What was after us?” Donna demands. “I mean, did we just run away from a power cut?”

“Possibly,” the Doctor says, not expanding on his answer, or answering Donna’s other questions.

“Are we safe here?”

“Of course we're safe. There's a little shop.”

A sign on the wall says The Shop, and Entrance This Way. The Doctor gets the camera open, and words scroll across a little panel on the camera. _‘No, stop it. No. No.’_ , it reads, and that makes Violet frown in confusion.

“Ooo, I'm sorry. I really am. I'm sorry. I'm so sorry,” the Doctor apologises. “It's alive.”

“You said it was a security camera,” Donna says.

“It is. It's an alive one.”

More words scroll across the panel. _‘Others are coming. The library is breached. Others are coming.’_

“Others?” Donna cries. “What's it mean, others?” Donna goes to a Node. “Excuse me. What does it mean, others?”

“That's barely more than a speak your weight machine, it can't help you,” Violet sighs.

“So why's it got a face?”

“This flesh aspect was donated by Mark Chambers on the occasion of his death.”

“It's a real face?”

“It has been actualised individually for you from the many facial aspects saved to our extensive flesh banks. Please enjoy.”

“It chose me a dead face it thought I'd like? That statue's got a real dead person's face on it.”

“It's the 51st Century,” the Doctor sighs. “That's basically like donating a park bench.”

“It's donating a face!”

“No, wait, no.” The Doctor grabs Donna as she backs away.

“Oi,” she warns. “Hands.”

“The shadow. Look.”

“What about it?”

“Count the shadows,” Violet reminds the woman, her own eyes pinned on the darkness.

“One. There, counted it. One shadow,” Donna sasses.

“Yeah, but what's casting it?” the Doctor asks.

It is a triangular shadow, but there’s nothing around to be casting it. Violet can’t help but smile slightly as the Doctor lets out an exclamation as the light in adjoining corridor starts going out. He explains to Donna how The Library runs on fission cells that will outburn the sun, and that it’s not actually dark.

“We need to get back to the TARDIS,” Violet warns.

“Why?” Donna asks, worry beginning to rise in her voice.

The Doctor “Because that shadow hasn't gone. It's moved.”

“Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming,” the Node recites. “Reminder. The library has been breached. Others are coming. Reminder. The library has been breached…”

Before Violet, the Doctor and Donna can get back to the TARDIS, a door is blown open in a flash of bright light, and six space-suited figures enter. The leader adjusts her polarising filter so they can see her face. Violet goes completely still and she feels tears sting her eyes, a smile working its way onto her face as the blonde woman smiles.

“Hello, sweetie,” River greets.

“Get out,” the Doctor barks. “All of you. Turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away. Tell your grandchildren you came to the library and lived. They won't believe you.”

“Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers.”

“How do you know they're not androids?” a woman asks.

“Because I've dated androids. They're rubbish.”

A man speaks. “Who is this? You said we were the only expedition. I paid for exclusives.”

“I lied, I'm always lying,” River tells the man. “Bound to be others.”

“Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts.”

“You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?”

“Please, just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just leave,” the Doctor pleads. “Hang on. Did you say expedition?”

“My expedition,” the man says. “I funded it.”

“Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists.”

“Got a problem with archaeologists?”

“I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists.”

“Ah. Professor River Song, archaeologist.”

Violet bursts out a sharp laugh, clapping her hands over her mouth as she tries to stifle her laughter. River looks over at the younger girl and winks.

“River Song, lovely name,” the Doctor says, barely registering the name. “As you're leaving, and you're leaving now, you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again. Not one living thing, not here, not ever. Stop right there. What's your name?”

“Anita,” the second woman who spoke says.

“Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared. No, bit more scared than that. Okay, do for now. You. Who are you?”

“Er, Dave,” another man says.

“Okay, Dave-:

“Oh, well, Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we-”

“Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?”

“Yeah. Oh, it's a bit darker.”

“How much darker?”

“Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now.”

“Seal up this door. We'll find another way out.”

“Would you-”

“We're not looking for a way out,” the first man growls. “Miss Evangelista?”

“I'm Mister Lux's personal everything,” a young girl greets, stepping forward with pieces of paper in her hands. “You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experience inside the library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation.”

“Right, give it here,” the Doctor says, Violet nodding in agreement.

“Yeah, lovely,” Donna agrees. “Thanks.”

The Doctor, Violet and Donna tear up the contracts, and River smiles in amusement.

“My family built this library,” the man, Lux, informs. “I have rights.”

“You have a mouth that won't stop,” River sighs at the man before turning back to the Doctor and Violet. “You think there's danger here?”

“Something came to this library and killed everything in it,” Violet says.

“Killed a whole world,” the Doctor agrees. “Danger? Could be.”

“That was a hundred years ago. The Library's been silent for a hundred years. Whatever came here's long dead.”

“Bet your life?”

“Always,” both Violet and River reply with matching smiles.

“What are you doing?” Lux demands.

“He said seal the door,” Other Dave informs.

“Torch,” the Doctor orders.

“You're taking orders from him?” Lux asks.

“Spooky, isn't it?”

The Doctor takes Lux's torch and shines it into the far recesses of the round room. “Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark.”

“But they're wrong, because it's not irrational,” Violet tells the archaeologists. “It's Vashta Nerada.”

“What's Vashta Nerada?” Donna wonders.

“It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark,” the Doctor explains. “Lights! That's what we need, lights. You got lights?”

“What for?” River asks.

“Form a circle. Safe area. Big as you can, lights pointing out.”

“Oi. Do as he says.”

Lux gives River a confused look. “You're not listening to this man?”

“Apparently I am,” River snaps back at Lux. “Anita, unpack the lights. Other Dave, make sure the door's secure, then help Anita. Mister Lux, put your helmet back on, block the visor. Proper Dave, find an active terminal. I want you to access the library database. See what you can find about what happened here a hundred years ago.” She smiles widely at the Doctor and Violet. “Pretty boy and cute girl, you're with me. Step into my office.”

“Professor Song, why am I the only one wearing my helmet?”

“I don't fancy you.”

The Doctor goes over to Dave at the terminal. “Probably I can help you.”

“Pretty boy,” River calls, making Violet laugh. “With me, I said.”

“Oh, I'm pretty boy?”

“Yes,” Donna says quickly and then pauses. “Ooo, that came out a bit quick.”

“Pretty?”

“Meh.”

“Don't let your shadows cross. Seriously, don't even let them touch. Any of them could be infected.”

“How can a shadow be infected?” Other Dave asks.

Violet listens to Other Dave and Anita shoot down Miss Evangelista’s offers to help, and she fights the urge to bash their heads together. She hears how she apparently “couldn't tell the difference between the escape pod and the bathroom” according to Anita, and Violet’s harsh breath hisses out through her clenched teeth. Evangelista moves over to where Lux stands and talks with her boss. River takes a battered book from her backpack. Its cover is blue with eight squares, and more than familiar book.

“Thanks,” River says, eyes moving over the pages as she flicks through the book.

“For what?” the Doctor asks.

“The usual. For coming when I call.”

“Oh, that was you?”

“You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason.”

“A fairly good one, actually.”

Violet’s stomach falls. “River, hold on.”

“Okay, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time? Er, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you, yeah? So, er, crash of the Byzantium. Have we done that yet?” River searches the Doctor’s eyes. “Obviously ringing no bells. Right. Oh, picnic at Asgard. Have we done Asgard yet? Obviously not. Blimey, very early days, then.” She flips back more pages. “Whoo, life with a time traveller. Never knew it could be such hard work. Look at you. Oh, you're young.”

“I'm really not, you know,” the Doctor replies.

“No, but you are. Your eyes. You're younger than I've ever seen you.”

“You've seen me before, then?”

“Doctor, please tell me you know who I am.”

“Who are you?”

Violet watches as River’s heart shatters and she hurries over to the other woman, giving her a comforting hug.

_Brng, brng. Brng, brng._

“Sorry, that was me,” Other Dave apologises. “Trying to get through into the security protocols. I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?”

“Doctor?” Donna calls. “Doctor, that sounds like…”

“It is,” the Time Lord replies. “It's a phone.”


	32. 𝟘𝟚𝟠 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

“I'm trying to call up the data core, but it's not responding,” Other Dave explains. “Just that noise.”

“But it's a phone,” Donna says incredulously.

“Let me try something,” the Doctor offers, making his way over to the computer and doing something. However, the screen says ‘Access Denied’. “Okay, doesn't like that. Let's try something else.” He does something else. “Okay, here it comes. Hello?”

“Hello,” a little girl says. “Are you in my television?”

“Well, no, I'm, I'm sort of in space. Er, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple grid security processor.”

“Would you like to speak to my Dad?”

“Dad or your Mum. That'd be lovely.”

“I know you. You're in my library.”

“Your library?”

“The library's never been on the television before. What have you done?”

“Er, well, I just rerouted the interface.”

The screen returns to what it looked like before and the little girl is nowhere to be seen, leaving everyone rather startled and confused.

“What happened?” River asks. “Who was that?”

The Doctor continues to try something, but he continues to be denied access. “I need another terminal. Keep working on those lights. We need those lights!”

“You heard him, people. Let there be light.”

The Doctor goes to the other terminal, where River left her diary. When he picks it up, Violet takes it from him, holding it to her chest and only allowing River to take it from her. She gets a rather bewildered look from the Doctor when River’s fingers linger on Violet’s, but both time travellers - and part Time Lords - ignore the look.

“Sorry, you're not allowed to see inside the book,” River says, deadly serious. “It's against the rules.”

“What rules?” the Doctor asks.

“Your rules.”

Books suddenly start flying off the shelves.

“What's that?” the Doctor asks. “I didn't do that. Did you do that?”

Other Dave says it wasn’t him, so they all return to what they were doing before the bombardment began. The Doctor's screen says ‘Cal Access Denied’, and he begins muttering to himself about what ‘Cal’ could be as books continue to fly. The bombardment of books finally stops a moment later, allowing Violet to stand and rub the back of her head with her left hand, her right still in the cast.

More books shoot off their shelves, one nearly hitting River. “What's causing that? Is it the little girl?”

“But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place?” the Doctor rants, utterly muddled. “How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's Cal?”

“Ask Mister Lux.”

“Cal, what is it?”

“Sorry,” Lux says, not sounding it at all. “You didn't sign your personal experience contracts.”

“Right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life,” Violet warns. “And you're protecting a patent?”

“I'm protecting my family's pride.”

“Well, funny thing, Mister Lux,” the Doctor interrupts. “I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.”

“Then why don't you sign his contract?” River asks. “I didn't either. I'm getting worse than you.”

“Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?”

“There was a message from the Library. Just one. The lights are going out. Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years.”

“It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in,” Lux informs.

“Er, excuse me?” Miss Evangelista calls.

“Not just now.”

“There was one other thing in the last message,” River says.

“That's confidential,” Lux warns.

“I trust this man with my life, with everything.”

“You've only just met him.”

“No, he's only just met me.”

“Er, this might be important, actually,” Miss Evangelista says again.

“In a moment,” Lux growls.

“This is a data extract that came with the message,” River tells the Doctor and Violet.

“Four thousand and twenty two saved,” Violet reads. “No survivors.”

“Four thousand and twenty two. That's the exact number of people who were in the library when the planet was sealed.”

“But how can four thousand and twenty two people have been saved if there were no survivors?” Donna asks.

“That's what we're here to find out.”

“And so far, what we haven't found are any bodies,” Lux informs them.


	33. 𝟘𝟚𝟡 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟜)

Evangelista explores the panel that had opened, and she does it alone without anyone realising. She goes down a short passage to what might be a reading room or lecture hall. Anyway, every flat surface has books piled on it. She steps into the darkness and screams.

Her screams cause chaos back with the group and Violet is the first to spring into action, picking up a torch and making her way towards the scream. The Doctor leads the way to investigate, the remaining people following him. They find a skeleton in rags and Violet standing in front of it, frozen in pure horror.

“Everybody, careful. Stay in the light,” he orders, moving closer to Violet. “You okay, Vi?”

She gives a sharp nod. “Peachy. I’ve seen worse, but not for a while.”

“You keep saying that,” Other Dave sighs. “I don't see the point.”

“Who screamed?” the Doctor questions.

“Miss Evangelista.”

“Where is she?”

“Miss Evangelista, please state your current…” River's voice echoes from very nearby. “Please state your current position.” River takes a lit comm. unit from the remains of the skeleton's collar. “It's her. It's Miss Evangelista.”

“We heard her scream a few seconds ago,” Anita protests. “What could do that to a person in a few seconds?”

“It took a lot less than a few seconds,” Violet whispers.

“What did?”

“Hello?” Miss Evangelista’s young, scared voice calls.

“I'm sorry, everyone,” River says softly, coming up behind Violet and pulling her away from the remains, arms wrapped around her middle. “This isn't going to be pleasant. She's ghosting.”

“She's what?” Donna asks.

“Hello? Excuse me,” Miss Evangelista continues, the green lights flashing on the space-suit. “I'm sorry. Hello? Excuse me.”

“That's, that's her, that's Miss Evangelista.”

Other Dave looks uncomfortable. “I don't want to sound horrible, but couldn't we just, you know?”

“This is her last moment. No, we can't,” River says firmly. “A little respect, thank you.”

Miss Evangelista continues to speak. “Sorry, where am I? Excuse me?”

“But that's Miss Evangelista,” Donna protests.

“It's a data ghost,” Violet whispers. “She'll be gone in a moment.”

“Miss Evangelista, you're fine,”River says into her comm. “Just relax. We'll be with you presently.”

“What's a data ghost?” Donna asks.

“There's a neural relay in the communicator. Lets you send thought mail,” the Doctor says, motioning to the green lights. “That's it there. Those green lights. Sometimes it can hold an impression of a living consciousness for a short time after death. Like an after image.”

“My grandfather lasted a day,” Anita says softly, a hint of amusement in her voice. “Kept talking about his shoelaces.”

“She's in there,” Donna breathes.

“I can't see. I can't,” Miss Evangelista’s voice is more panicked now. “Where am I?”

“She's just brain waves now,” Other Dave says. “The pattern won't hold for long.”

“But, she's conscious,” Donna protests. “She's  _thinking_.”

Miss Evangelista continues to speak. “I can't see, I can't. I don't know what I'm thinking.”

“She's a footprint on the beach,” the Doctor says softly, taking Violet from River and holding his wife. “And the tide's coming in.”

“Where's that woman? The nice woman. Is she there?”

“What woman?” Lux asks.

“She means…” Donna’s voice falters for a moment. “I think she means me.”

“Is she there?” Miss Evangelista asks, sounding almost desperate. “The nice woman.”

“Yes, she's here. Hang on,” River replies to the ghosting girl before turning to Donna. “Go ahead. She can hear you.”

“Hello? Are you there?”

“Help her,” the Doctor urges.

“She's dead,” Donna says.

“Yeah. Help her.”

“Hello? Is that the nice woman?” Miss Evangelista asks.

“Yeah. Hello. Yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm here,” Donna fumbles over her words. “You okay?”

“What I said before, about being stupid. Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.”

“Course I won't. Course I won't tell them.”

“Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.”

“I won't tell them. I said I won't.”

“Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.”

“I'm not going to tell them.”

The green light starts blinking and Miss Evangelista’s voice continues to loop. “Don't tell the others, they'll only laugh.”

“She's looping now,” River says softly. “The pattern's degrading. Does anybody mind if I…?”

Miss Evangelista repeats something about ice cream and not knowing where she is until River turns off the comm. Unit, leaving everyone in a sickening silence. Donna is almost in tears, or maybe she is, but Violet is unable to tell in such dim lighting. River is comforting the redheaded woman for maybe half a second before she growls out that she wants a word with the Vashta Nerada.

The Doctor replies with an “I'll introduce you” and marches back to the Rotunda, leaving everyone to scurry along behind him. Violet pauses for a moment and stares at the shadows, wondering that if, just maybe, these creatures might be the ones with the ability to end her life after so long of her wanting to be dead. However, she pushes forward and heads back to the Rotunda, allowing River to pull her through the still open panel.

“I'm going to need a packed lunch,” the Doctor demands, his voice full of rage.

“Hang on,” River replies, flipping through her blue book, making Violet smile at the cursive lettering and occasional pictures.

“So much to do, so little time,” Violet murmurs, kissing River’s cheek. “So much we can’t tell him.”

“What's in that book?” the Doctor demands.

“Spoilers,” Violet and River sing-song.

“Who are you?” he almost snarls, stalking over to his wives.

“Professor River Song, University of-”

“To me. Who are you to me, and to my wife?”

“Again, spoilers.” She pulls a container from her bag and hands it to him. “Chicken and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out.”

“Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada.”


	34. 𝟘𝟛𝟘 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟝)

The Doctor is scanning the floor with his sonic screwdriver, Violet again receiving the readings, but being too caught up in the conversation between her past/current wife and her current husband’s - who is also her wife’s past/current/future husband - companion. 

“You travel with him, don't you?” River asks Donna. “The Doctor, you travel with him.”

“What of it?” Donna asks defensively. “You know him, don't you?”

“Oh God, do I know that man. We go way back, that man and me. Just not this far back.”

“I'm sorry, what?”

“He hasn't met me yet. I sent him a message, but it went wrong. It arrived too early. This is the Doctor in the days before he knew me, and he looks at me, he looks right through me and it shouldn't kill me, but it does.”

Violet holds her wife’s hand. “Hey, at least I know you. I mean, unlike the first time I met you. That must have been so terribly hard on you considering you and my not-too-far-in-the-future self had not long got married.”

“I suffered through it because I knew it had to happen. You still ended up marrying my past self.”

“What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish?” Donna demands, her voice gaining volume. “Do you know him or don't you?”

“Donna! Quiet,” the Doctor scolds. “I'm working.”

“Sorry.”

“Donna,” River says in disbelief. “You're Donna. Donna Noble. 

“Yeah. Why?”

“I do know the Doctor, but in the future. His personal future.”

“So why don't you know me? Where am I in the future?”

River gives her a sad, apologetic look that even I know the answer to, and it’s hard to meet Donna’s curious eyes and not tell her the truth.

“Okay, got a live one,” the Doctor calls. “That's not darkness down those tunnels. This is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man eating swarm.” The Doctor throws a chicken leg into the shadow. It is only bone by the time it hits the floor. “The piranhas of the air. The Vashta Nerada. Literally, the shadows that melt the flesh. Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive.”

“I’ve seen them in worse,” Violet says, her voice breaking as she thinks of the family that she watched be slaughtered by these shadows.

“What do you mean, most planets?” Donna asks, worried. “Not Earth?”

“Mmm. Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada,” the Doctor assures. “You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams.”

“If they were on Earth, we'd know.”

“Nah. Normally they live on roadkill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark.”

"Every shadow?” River asks.

“No. But any shadow.”

“So what do we do?”

“Daleks, aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans, back of the neck,” Violet lists. “Vashta Nerada? Run. Just run.”

“Run? Run where?”

“This is an index point,” the Doctor muses. “There must be an exit teleport somewhere.”

“Don't look at me,” Lux exclaims. “I haven't memorised the schematics.”

“Doctor, the little shop,” Donna reminds the Time Lord. “They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff.”

“You're right. Brilliant!” he exclaims “That's why I like the little shop.”

“Okay, let's move it,” Proper Dave orders.

He heads towards the shop but the Doctor spots something. “Actually, Proper Dave? Could you stay where you are for a moment?”

“Why?”

“I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows.”

He has, at right angles to each other. Violet’s feet move of their own accord as they skid against the floor, colliding with both River and the Doctor hardly a second later. She barely hears her husband give commands to Proper Dave, too far gone in her terror of the flesh eating shadows to fully concentrate. She feels the Doctor leave her side to put Proper Dave's helmet on him, so she clings to their mutual wife.

The Doctor uses his screwdriver to adjust Dave's suit and then passes his sonic screwdriver to River, startled when the blonde holds up a sonic screwdriver of her own. River upgrades everyone's spacesuit and the Doctor grabs Donna, dragging her from the room and into where the teleports are. Violet knows that he’s sending Donna back to the TARDIS; that it’s the safest place for her to be, but the half Time Lord is confused as to why the Doctor‘s not doing the same with Violet herself.

River calls the Doctor back. “Doctor.”

“Where did it go?” the Doctor demands, and it’s then that Violet realises that the second shadow is gone.

“It's just gone,” Proper Dave says with a confused look. “I looked round, one shadow, see.”

“Does that mean we can leave?” River asks the Doctor. “I don't want to hang around here.”

“I don't know why we're still here,” Lux complains. “We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence.”

“Shut up, Mister Lux.”

The Doctor stares worriedly at Proper Dave and bombards him with some questions. “Did you feel anything, like an energy transfer? Anything at all?”

“No, no, but look, it's gone.” Proper Dave turns around.

“Stop there. Stop, stop, stop there. Stop moving. They're never just gone and they never give up.” He sonics the floor by Proper Dave. “Well, this one's benign.”

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

“No one, they're fine.”

“No seriously, turn them back on.”

“They are on,” River assures Proper Dave, but Violet can hear the apprehension in her wife’s voice.

“I can't see a ruddy thing.”

“Dave, turn around,” the Doctor says calmly, the same tone in his voice.

Proper Dave turns back to the Doctor, his visor completely dark. “What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone? Are we safe here? 

“Dave, I want you stay still. Absolutely still.”

Proper Dave jerks and Violet knows that the man is dead. However, the Doctor continues to talk to Proper Dave until his comm. unit lights blink and River tells them all that he is ghosting. Lux asks the serious question and Violet’s stomach drops, her hand twitching by her side, wanting to take hold of her husband’s coat and drag him away from the still-standing space-suit.

Proper Dave grabs the Doctor by the throat and a skull falls forward against the visor, now visible in his helmet. River zaps the zombie with her sonic screwdriver, freeing the Doctor, who orders everyone away from it. Zombie Dave lurches a step towards them, steps halting and shaky, rather like a toddler still learning to walk properly.

“Doesn't move very fast, does it?” River asks, amusement and excitement in her voice.

“It's a swarm in a suit,” the Doctor reminds his future wife. “But it's learning.”

Zombie Dave has four shadows, and they are growing.

“What do we do?” Lux demands, panicking. “Where do we go?”

“See that wall behind you? Duck.” River fires a gun at the wall and makes a square hole in it.

The Doctor grins. “Squareness gun!”

“Everybody out. Go, go, go. Move it. Move, move. Move it. Move, move.”

Suddenly, the six remaining individuals are tearing through the stacks in an attempt to be free of the monster tailing them.

“You said not every shadow,” River says.

“But any shadow,” the Doctor replies.

“Hey, who turned out the lights?” Proper Dave’s voice repeats.

“Run!” River cries.


	35. 𝟘𝟛𝟙 ▹ 𝕊𝕚𝕝𝕖𝕟𝕔𝕖 𝕚𝕟 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝕃𝕚𝕓𝕣𝕒𝕣𝕪 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟞)

Somewhere amongst the massive shelves of books, the Doctor is trying to sonic a light fitting, explaining that light doesn't stop the Vashta Nerada, but it does slow them down. Violet is left frozen by River’s side, trying to force her muscles into cooperating with her mind’s wishes, but she’s not really having the best of luck. Anita, Other Dave and Lux are on a sort of look-out for what remains of Proper Dave and other Vashta Nerada, but it’s quite difficult in a library of shadows.

“So, what's the plan?” River demands. “Do we have a plan?”

“Your screwdriver looks exactly like mine,” the Doctor says, making Violet groan because they don’t have time for a lover’s spat.

“Yeah. You gave it to me.”

“I don't give my screwdriver to anyone.”

“I'm not anyone.”

“Who are you?”

“What's the plan?” Violet snaps, already sick of this.

“I teleported Donna back to the TARDIS,” the Doctor informs. “If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate.”

“Take her home, yeah,” River replies. “We need to get a shift on.”

“She's not there. I should have received a signal. The console signals me if there's a teleport breach.”

“Well, maybe the coordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient.”

The Doctor goes to a nearby Node. “Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this library. Do you have the software to locate her position?”

The node turns its head. It has Donna's face. “Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.”

“Donna,” Violet hisses in surprise.

“Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.”

“How can it be Donna?” River murmurs. “How's that possible?”

“Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.”

Something clicks in Violet’s mind and she grins, finally having figured out what is going on. However, it seems as though her husband and wife have not done so just yet. As the node continues to repeat the same two sentences multiple times, the suit holding Proper Dan’s skeleton and a swarm of Vashta Nerada comes staggering down the hallway.

River and the Doctor run, followed by Lux, the other Dave and Anita. The group get trapped between shadows, nowhere to run.

“Doctor, what are we going to do?” River demands.

All the Doctor can do is grip Violet’s hand tightly.

“Hey, who turned out the lights?” Proper Dave’s voice echoes down the hall, followed by that of the node still saying, “Donna Noble has left the library. Donna Noble has been saved.”


	36. 𝟘𝟛𝟚 ▹ 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

Violet’s fingers tangle in her hair as she spins, trying to find a way out of this mess that they’ve been thrust into because of small message that came many years too early. The large moon is hanging high in the orange sky. River cuts a square in the wall with her gun and enters, ordering everyone through, into yet another Rotunda. 

“Okay, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in!,” River orders. “Right in the centre. In the middle of the light, quickly. Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor.”

“I'm doing it,” the Doctor replies, annoyed.

“There's no lights here. Sunset's coming. We can't stay long. Have you found a live one?”

“Maybe. It's getting harder to tell. What's wrong with you?”

“We're going to need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg? Thanks, Dave.” She throws the meat into the shadow, and once again it is just bone before it hits the ground. “Okay. Okay, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet.”

“They won't attack until there's enough of them,” Violet mutters, her voice wavering and full of untamed panic. “But they've got our scent now. They're coming.”

The archaeologists argue with River about the Doctor, and Violet’s anxiety and bubbling rage begins to grow, the medicine from this century already losing its effect on her weak body. The half Time Lord curses in an ancient language and begins to pace, only stopping when her wife grips her hand tightly, anchoring her and giving her something to latch onto until she returns to the TARDIS.

“You say he's your friend, but he doesn't even know who you are,” Anita snarks. “And you say this _little girl_ is someone you care for. Who the hell is she?”

“Listen, all you need to know is this. I'd trust that man to the end of the universe. And actually, we've been,” River sighs. “As for Violet, don’t you ever call her a little girl again, or underestimate my first wife.”

“He doesn't act like he trusts you.”

“Yeah, there's a tiny problem. He hasn't met me yet.” She goes over to where the Doctor is still scanning shadows, Violet hot on her heels. “What's wrong with it?”

“There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it,” the Doctor says with a frown.

“Then use the red settings.”

“It doesn't have a red setting.”

“Well, use the dampers.”

“It doesn't have dampers.”

“It will do one day.”

The Doctor takes River's sonic screwdriver. “So, some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.”

“Yeah.”

“Why would I do that?”

River laughs. “I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about.”

“And I know that because?”

“Listen to me. You've lost your friend. You're angry. I understand. But you need to be less emotional, Doctor, right now.”

“Less emotional? I'm not emotional.”

“There are six people in this room still alive. Focus on that. Dear God, you're hard work young.”

“Young? Who are you?”

“Oh, for heaven's sake!” Lux exclaims. “Look at the pair of you. We're all going to die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.”

“Doctor, one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you,” River says, her voice softer than usual. “And I'm sorry. I'm really very sorry.” River whispers the Doctor’s name in his ear. “Are we good? Doctor, are we good?”

He looks beyond stunned, and his eyes move to Violet for a split second. “Yeah, we're good.”

“Good.” River takes back her screwdriver and leaves him, Violet giving her husband a tentative smile before following.

The Doctor begins to rant about his screwdriver and signals, and both his wives have to withhold their groans of annoyance, sharing a grin. They know so much about this man, but they both know it from different circumstances, and some of it from each other. River knows about the future Doctor, and Violet knows about the past Doctor - _this_ Doctor.

 

“Professor?” Anita calls, her worry making Violet look up, only to freeze in horror.

“Just a moment,” River replies.

Violet stammers for a moment, clearing her throat before trying again. “R-River, honey.”

“It's important,” Anita pleads. “I have two shadows.”

River turns and her eyes widen. “Okay. Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours.”

It’s a tense minute for the six of them, and it’s only making Violet’s emotions fluctuate faster and more erratically. River puts the helmet on Anita and backs away from the woman quickly, the Doctor sonicing the visor to Anita’s helmet black in an attempt to trick the Vashta Nerada.

“Just, just, just stay back,” the Doctor orders. “Professor, a quick word, please.”

“What?” River asks, following him a few steps away, still in earshot of Violet.

“Down here.”

They crouch down.

“What is it?”

“Look, you said there are six people still alive in this room.”

“Yeah, so?”

“So, why are there seven?”

Violet looks around and sees that skeletal zombie Dave has caught up to them. “Hey, who turned out the lights?”

“Run!” the Doctor yells.


	37. 𝟘𝟛𝟛 ▹ 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

The group run through a high level walkway to another library skyscraper, and it’s getting closer to pitch black by the second. Violet has always been afraid of the dark ever since she was a little girl, but even more so since she returned home from centuries of travel in time and space. Her right hand, still encased in a light purple cast, comes to rest atop her left wrist where her Vortex Manipulator from the Time Agency remains, under her long sleeves and away from prying eyes.

The Doctor slows to a stop and turns so he is facing the direction that they all came from. “Professor, go ahead. Find a safe spot.”

“It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit,” River stresses, the desperation clear in her voice. “You can't reason with it.”

“Five minutes.”

“Other Dave, Violet, stay with him. Pull him out when he's too stupid to live. Two minutes, Doctor.”

River briefly kisses her first wife on the cheek before running off with Anita and Lux, leaving Other Dave and Violet with the Doctor.

Zombie Proper Dave barges through the doors. “Hey, who turned out the lights?”

“You hear that? Those words? That is the very last thought of the man who wore that suit before you climbed inside and stripped his flesh. That's a man's soul trapped inside a neural relay, going round and round forever,” the Doctor almost growls, utterly fed up with the shadows. “Now, if you don't have the decency to let him go, how about this? Use him. Talk to me. It's easy. Neural relay. Just point and think. Use him, talk to me.”

“Hey, who turned out the lights?”

“The Vashta Nerada live on all the worlds in this system, but you hunt in forests. What are you doing in a library?”

“We should go,” Other Dave decides. “Doctor!”

“In a minute. You came to the library to hunt. Why? Just tell me why?”

“We did not,” the Vashta Nerada says with Proper Dave’s voice, the voice jumpy and fumbled.

“Oh, hello,” the Doctor says with a delighted look on his face.

“We did not.”

“Take it easy, you'll get the hang of it. Did not what?”

“We did not come here.”

“Well, of course you did. Of course you came here.”

“We come from here.”

“From here?” Violet whispers, her fear getting the better of her. “What do you mean by that?”

“We hatched here,” the shadows reply.

“But you hatch from trees,” the Doctor says in confusion, trying to understand. “From spores in trees.”

“These are our forests.”

“You're nowhere near a forest. Look around you.”

“These are our forests.”

“You're not in a forest, you're in a library. There are no trees in a-” The penny drops. “-library.”

“We should go,” Other Dave repeats. “Doctor!”

“Books. You came in the books,” Violet says, almost breathless. “Microspores in a million, million books.”

“We should go. Doctor!”

“Oh, look at that,” the Doctor marvels. “The forests of the Vashta Nerada, pulped and printed and bound. A million, million books, hatching shadows.”

“We should go. Doctor!”

“Oh, Dave! Oh Dave, I'm so sorry.”

Violet hesitantly turns to face their companion, only to see that Other Dave is also a skeleton now. Proper Dave’s shadows revert back to their usual “Hey, who turned out the lights?” while the ones with Other Dave continue with their “We should go. Doctor!” However, neither the Doctor nor Violet move, one too terrified, frozen in fear, and the other still talking.

The Doctor opens a trapdoor with his sonic screwdriver and both Time Lords drop. They hang onto a support strut and inches their way along, screwdriver clenched between the Doctor’s teeth, and Violet struggling with really only one arm to work with. By the time they rejoin the group night has fallen. River and her remaining team are in another round room. She is checking the shadows with her screwdriver.

“You know, it's funny,” the blonde muses. “I keep wishing the Doctor was here.”

“The Doctor is here, isn't he?” Anita asks, thoroughly confused. “He is coming back, right?”

“You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them. and it's like they're not quite finished. They're not done yet. Well, yes, the Doctor's here. He came when I called, just like he always does, but not my Doctor. Now my Doctor, I've seen whole armies turn and run away, ad he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor in the TARDIS. Next stop, everywhere.”

“Spoilers,” the Doctor mimics, startling them all. “Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.”

“It does for me,” Violet says softly just as River replies, “It does for the Doctor.”

“I am the Doctor.”

“Yeah,” the blonde archaeologist replies. “Some day.”

“How are you doing?”

“Where's Other Dave?”

“Not coming. Sorry.”

“Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?”

“I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference.”

Anita has two shadows. “It's making a difference all right. No one's ever going to see my face again.”

“Can I get you anything?”

“An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?”

“I'm all over it.”

“Doctor. When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far. I could do with a word like that. What did she say? Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me.”

“Safe,” the Doctor says, springing up like he’s been electrocuted.

“What?” Anita asks, more confused now.

Violet grins at River. ‘Fuck we’re stupid, Riv. How didn’t we see it?!”

“Safe. You don't say saved. Nobody says saved. You say safe,” the Doctor declares. “The data fragment! What did it say?”

“Four thousand and twenty two people saved,” Lux repeats, just as confused as Anita. “No survivors.”

“Doctor?” River asks. “Vi?”

“Nobody says saved. Nutters say saved,” the Doctor rambles. “You say safe. You see, it didn't mean safe. It meant, it literally meant, saved!”


	38. 𝟘𝟛𝟜 ▹ 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

A few moments later, the Doctor has got into a Library Archive File. “See, there it is, right there. A hundred years ago, massive power surge. All the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm. The computer tries to teleport everyone out.”

“It tried to teleport four thousand twenty two people?” River asks in disbelief, staring at the screen.

“It succeeded. Pulled them all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them. Nowhere safe in the whole library. Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. Four thousand and twenty two people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?”

“It saved them.”

The Doctor draws on a large polished table. “The library. A whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved four thousand and twenty two people the only way a computer can. It saved them to the hard drive.”

Before the Doctor can get any further with his explaining, an alarm sounds that makes Violet want to throw up. A voice declares that autodestruct has been enabled for twenty minutes time, and then there will be maximum erasure. Violet tries her best to get into the computer to stop it, but the terminal screen goes completely blank, making her curse and slam her left fist against the device.

“All library systems are permanently offline,” the computer informs in an annoying monotonous robotic voice. “Sorry for any inconvenience.”

Lux and the Doctor talk about the main computer while Violet tries her hardest not to break down in front of her husband, her wife, the owner of The Library and the one remaining archaeologist, who Violet has the feeling is actually no longer with the living. Eventually, River points her screwdriver at The Library logo in the middle of the compass rose in the floor and it opens.

“Gravity platform,” River declares.

“I bet I like you,” the Doctor tells his future/current wife.

“Oh, you do,” River and Violet reply with a smile, the latter’s far more forced than her wife’s.

The five people step on and go down, heading to the core of the planet as the autodestruct continues to count down. Once they’ve reached solid ground, the Doctor looks up to see a globe with swirling energy in it, saying something about it having thousands of living minds “trapped” inside it. He finds an access terminal and a young girl’s voice sounds, begging for someone to help her. It makes Violet’s stomach twist, memories of war-torn planets and children screaming flashing through her mind.

“The computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying.” The Doctor taps at the keyboard.

River stares at the screen with something akin to wonder and confusion. “Doctor, these readings…”

“I know. You'd think it was dreaming.”

“It is dreaming,” Lux replies, something different in his voice this time. “Of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written.”

“Computers don't dream,” Anita says.

“No, but little girls do.”

Lux pulls a breaker and a door opens. They all run in and a node turns to face them; a node bearing the face of the little girl they saw in the computer earlier. Violet’s stomach churns at the sight and she has to look away, bracing her left hand on the wall, almost doubled over as her stomach threatens to empty itself as Lux explains that the little girl is essentially the computer; his grandfather’s youngest daughter.

Lux talks of how she was dying, so his grandfather, her father, built her a library and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time. Any era to live in, any book to read; that she loved books more than anything, and he gave her them all, and that he asked only that she be left in peace; a secret, not a freak show. Then he says something about it only being a half life, and that makes Violet’s head snap up, her grey-blue eyes staring at the man.

“And then the shadows came,” the Doctor says. “And she saved them. She saved everyone in the library. Folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.”

“Then why didn't she tell us?” Anita asks.

“Because she's forgotten. She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head. It must be like being, well, me, and Violet.” He notices her hunched over and hurries over, helping her upright and walking her over to the others. “Are you alright, Vi?”

“I’m fine, old man,” Violet sasses weakly. “Just getting one hell of a bombardment of memories.”

“So what do we do?” River asks, needing instructions right now, unable to figure out some way to save all the people in the computer’s database.

“Easy! We beam all the people out of the data core,” the Doctor declares. “The computer will reset and stop the countdown. Difficult. Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer. Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer. She can borrow my memory space.”

“Difficult. It'll kill you stone dead.”

“Yeah, it's easy to criticise.”

“It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate.”

“I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.”


	39. 𝟘𝟛𝟝 ▹ 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟜)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> To be honest, I actually cried writing Violet's little speech in this chapter.
> 
> If people are unaware, my OC, Violet, is actually based off me. I'll let you take away from that what you will.
> 
> \- Chey xo -

“Let me do it,” Violet pleads, making all heads turn to the weak eighteen, technically nineteen, year old. “I may not have lived as long as you, Doctor, but I have lived centuries more than I was ever meant to. My life is practically over anyway - I only have two or three years left and then I’ll fade away into time.”

“Vi,” River and the Doctor say, both distressed at the words leaving her lips, and both unaware of the button she presses on her Vortex Manipulator to call Jack, sharing this moment with him.

“You think Jack was the only one who’s tried to kill himself so many times? We both have, but nothing has come of it. We’re both condemned to lives of questionable length, but I get to escape mine while he lives on for thousands of years without anyone to keep him company.” Violet briefly closes her eyes, tears falling down her face. “He lives in solitude for too fucking long, and it’s all because he met you and got himself killed. He may die with you and I by his side, but you don’t know who he is then. It still hurts thinking about it and I can see it every time I close my fucking eyes!”

No one dares to say anything, not even Jack.

“My best friend; my first real love, and I was forced to watch him die. Every other time, he’s come back, but not that time; not thousands of years from this century - the century he’s probably being born into right now! The 51st Century is honestly a laugh. Vashta Nerada on a planet that’s a fucking  _ library _ , in the century that Jack is born, and I’m willing to give up my life right now instead of living for maybe three more years tops. If this is what it takes to kill me, then maybe he’ll be able to escape his fate too by finding something similar.”

“But I won’t have you by my side,” Jack says, his voice floating up from the device on her wrist. “If you die in the future, Vi, what happens to your future in the 21st Century? What happens with you and me, and you and the Doctor? What about River?”

“You have Ianto and Gwen, and I know they’re listening. Gwen, I hated you to begin with, but you’re okay now, I guess. Ianto, that day at Canary Wharf with the Daleks and Cybermen, I wish I’d of helped you with Lisa instead of abandoning you.”

“It’s quite alright, Violet,” Ianto assures her. “Gwen would also say something, but she is currently too emotional.”

“That’s fine. Also, Ianto? There’s something else I should have told you when Jack and I came back from the future.” Violet pauses, swallowing. “It’s just, uh, something so utterly human and obvious that it shouldn’t need saying, but you’re rather thick sometimes.”

Jack laughs, but she can tell it’s through tears. “Just go ahead and tell him.”

“Ianto, I love you. Have since the moment I met you. Bloody cheeky bastard you are, and you’re so unbelievably fucking loyal to your last breath that it’s going to be the end of you.”

“Would you like to know something as well, Violet?” Ianto doesn’t give her a chance to answer. “I loved you when I first spoke to you, but I guess the same can be said for Jack as well.”

“Oh, shut up,” Jack says. “Look, little love, you need to live through this so you can tell him to his face. Screw this centuries’ labels of boyfriend and girlfriend, and husband and wife, you’re only young and you need to live your life.”

Violet laughs at the expressions on her wife’s and husband’s faces. “Jacky Boy, you just said that with both my wife and my husband in the same room.”

“Well, that’s awkward, but you need to remember that we got married too at one stage.”

“Gonna need to file for that divorce, Jack. Already got two on my hands, don’t need the other two.” She smiles weakly. “Goodbye, Jack. Ianto, you look after that idiot, won’t you?”

“Of course, ma’am,” Ianto manages to reply before Violet cuts the call.

“You’re not doing this,” the Doctor seethes, fighting his own tears at his second wife’s confession. “I am. You might only have a few years left, but that’s better than nothing.”

“Doctor!” River exclaims, fed up with both her husband and her first wife being self-sacrificing.

“I'm right, this works. Shut up,” the Doctor snarks back. “Now listen. You and Luxy boy, back up to the main library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, can I just mention in passing as you're here, shut up.”

“Oh! I hate you sometimes.”

“I know!”

“Mister Lux, with me. Anita, if he dies, I'll kill him!” She turns to her wife and kisses her. “Don’t you die yet, my love. You still have yet to live the best years of your life.”

River and Lux leave and Anita turns to the Doctor. “What about the Vashta Nerada?”

“These are their forests,” the Doctor explains. “I'm going to seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts' content.”

“So you think they're just going to let us go?”

“Best offer they're going to get.”

“You're going to make 'em an offer?”

“They'd better take it, because right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know what? I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying. And she never gave in. And you ate her.” He clears her visor to reveal a skull. “But I'm going to let that pass, just as long as you let them pass.”

Violet is still crying as the Doctor and Vashta Nerada Anita talk, arguing about the people living inside the computer. The half breed hugs her arms to her body and sinks to her knees, folding in half and trying to break down as quietly as she can. Shadows stretch out from Vashta Nerada Anita towards the Doctor, but he quickly reminds them who he is. There is a pause, then the shadows withdraw, the shadows saying something before the spacesuit collapses.

“Oh, Anita,” River sighs, walking over to them

“I'm sorry. She's been dead a while now,” he apologises, but quickly turns to River. “I told you to go!”

“Lux can manage without me, but you can't.” 

River punches the Doctor, knocking him out. She drags him away from the computer and handcuffs him, a pained expression on her face. She crouches down in front of Violet and places a hand on her back, comforting her a moment before standing and walking away. A little later, as the Doctor wakes up and Violet is regaining control over her emotions, River is twisting some wires together.

“Oh, no, no, no, no,” the Doctor exclaims. “Come on, what are you doing? That's my job.”

“Oh, and I'm not allowed to have a career, I suppose?” River teases.

“Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even have handcuffs?”

“Spoilers.”

“This is not a joke. Stop this now. This is going to kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any.”

“You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I. I'm timing it for the end of the countdown. There'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.”

“River, please. No.”

“Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die. All the time we've been together, you knew I was coming here. The last time I saw you, the real you, the future you, I mean, you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit. You took me to Darillium to see the Singing Towers. What a night that was. The Towers sang, and you cried.” She smiles sadly. “You wouldn't tell me why, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the library. You even gave me your screwdriver. That should have been a clue.”

The two screwdrivers and her diary are just out of the Doctor's reach, but not out of Violet’s reach. However, no matter how imploringly her husband stares at her, Violet remains standing where she is, leaning against the computer, knowing that this is where her wife will take her final breath.

“There's nothing you can do,” River says, her voice beginning to break.

“You can let me do this,” the Doctor pleads.

“If you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.”

“Time can be rewritten.”

“Not those times. Not one line. Don't you dare. It's okay. It's okay. It's not over for you. You'll see me again. You've got all of that to come. You and me, and Violet, time and space. You watch us run.”

“River, you know my name,” the Doctor says brokenly, his brown eyes pained beyond anything Violet has ever seen before.

“Autodestruct in ten,” the computer counts.

“You whispered my name in my ear.”

“Nine, eight, seven…”

“There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could.”

“Hush, now,” River says.

“Four, three,” the computer continues.

River and Violet smile. “Spoilers.”

“Two, one.”

River joins two power cables together and there is a blinding light, Violet throwing up her hands to cover her eyes and the Doctor turning his face away. Their mutual wife doesn’t scream, but more so goes with a smile, and in the presence of the two people who loved her almost more than her parents. When the light fades, Violet and the Doctor are left staring at an empty space.


	40. 𝟘𝟛𝟞 ▹ 𝔽𝕠𝕣𝕖𝕤𝕥 𝕠𝕗 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔻𝕖𝕒𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟝)

Hours later, the sun is up and over four thousand people are crowded around the teleport stations, desperately wanting to get home after a century of being stuck inside a computer. Violet stands watching the mess, leaning against the wall due to her inability to stand upright without support for extended periods of time. The Doctor and Donna aren’t too far away, but their backs are to the fray.

“Any luck?” the Time Lord asks.

“There wasn't even anyone called Lee in the library that day,” the sassy, redheaded British woman sighs. “I suppose he could have had a different name out here, but, let's be honest, he wasn't real, was he?”

“Maybe not.”

“I made up the perfect man. Gorgeous, adores me, and hardly able to speak a word. What's that say about me?”

“Everything. Sorry, did I say everything? I meant to say nothing. I was aiming for nothing. I accidentally said everything.”

“What about you? Are you alright?”

“I'm always alright.”

“Is all right special Time Lord code for really not all right at all?”

“Why?”

“Because I'm all right, too.

“Come on.”

The Doctor and Donna start to walk out just as Lee stands on the teleport pad. He sees her and steps off the pad when Violet waves him over, the male making his way through the crowd until he’s only a few metres from the woman of his dreams.

“Donna,” Violet says. “Turn around.”

The woman does just that, eyes widening when she sees Lee. Donna rushes over to him and throws her arms around him, holding him tightly as his arms make their way around her middle, holding her against him. Violet smiles at the two, but there’s a tint of misery to it after losing her wife today. An arm sneaks around her waist and pulls her against a tall, lean frame, and she rests her head against the Doctor, fighting the burning in her eyes that tells of another bout of tears threatening to begin.

Minutes later, the four walk down the marble steps only three walked down the day before. The Doctor puts River's diary on the balcony rail, and Violet fights her urge to pick up the blue book and read it cover to cover.

“Your friend, Professor Song. She knew you in the future, but she didn't know me,” Donna muses. “What happens to me? Because when she heard my name, the way she looked at me.”

“Donna, this is her diary. My future.” The Doctor taps his fingers on the cover. “I could look you up. What do you think? Shall we peek at the end?”

“Spoilers, right?”

“Right.” He puts River's sonic screwdriver on the diary. “Come on. The next chapter's this way.”

They walk back up the stairs, but don’t get too far before the Doctor runs back for the screwdriver, tugging Violet behind him. Donna and Lee follow behind the two.

“Why? Why would I give her my screwdriver? Why would I do that? Thing is, future me had years to think about it, all those years to think of a way to save her, and what he did was give her a screwdriver. Why would I do that?” He turns the screwdriver around, revealing a neural relay with two green lights on it. “Oh! Oh! Oh, look at that. I'm very good!”

“What have you done?” Donna asks.

“Saved her,” Violet says with a smile as he runs off.

The half Time Lord picks up River’s blue diary and carries it, limping, back to the TARDIS alongside Donna and Lee, who are walking hand-in-hand like a real couple. The three walk into the blue box as the Doctor rushes to the central computer to save River - to give her a life with those she came to The Library with, and to just give her a life in general.

Violet tucks the book into her back pocket once she’s on board and then pulls the monitor around, watching everyone outside and waiting for the Doctor to return. When he does return to the Reception, he stops and stares at the TARDIS. He slowly raises his arm and snaps his fingers, opening the doors to reveal Donna, Lee and Violet waiting inside. He walks inside and snaps his fingers again, closing the doors.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes, I changed something probably major about this episode. Don't bite my head off because of this chapter.
> 
> \- Chey xo -


	41. 𝟘𝟛𝟟 ▹ 𝔻𝕒𝕪𝕤 𝕒𝕥 𝕋𝕠𝕣𝕔𝕙𝕨𝕠𝕠𝕕

Violet slings her bag over her shoulder and kisses the Doctor goodbye, waving her farewells to Donna and Lee, who are cuddled up beside each other on the new chair in the console room. Thankful that her cast is now gone, she slides up her sleeve and enters the coordinates of the  _ Torchwood  _ base in Cardiff into her Vortex Manipulator and disappears from the TARDIS, appearing in front of the Roald Dahl Plass. 

With a grin, she hops atop the part of the pavement with a perception filter and presses another button descending into the base. She raises her finger to her lips when Gwen and Ianto see her, warning them to be quiet as her eyes search for Jack. They listen to her and continue on with what they were doing as the cement continues to descend silently. I hop off the cement and sneak up the stairs, slipping into Jack’s office.

He looks up at the movement and Violet watches as his eyes widen in shock, the papers in his grasp falling onto the table. Violet just grins and drops her bag as the time traveller practically launches out of his seat and throws his arms around her, lifting her off the floor and spinning her around. She screams with delight and holds onto the male as he laughs, slowing to a stop and lowering her back to the ground.

The moment her feet are on solid ground, his lips are pressed to hers, kissing her differently to every other time he’s done so. She can feel his relief that she’s still alive after what happened at The Library, as well as what love he still holds for her despite them both having somewhat moved on and found another person they love as equally as they did each other. Violet has to detach her lips from Jack’s when breathing becomes hard, but she doesn’t loosen her tight hold on the older man.

She clings to him, head resting on his chest above his heart. “I should have called to let you know I was still alive - and still me.”

Jack shakes his head, one hand on her lower back and the other between her shoulder blades. “No, it’s alright. The main thing is that you’re still alive and can live out whatever you say remains of your life.”

“I was so ready to die in that place, Jack. I just wanted it over - I still do.”

“I know you do, Vi, but we don’t all get what we want.”

She slowly pulls herself away from her other love. “If I ever found something that could kill you - actually kill you - would you do it, or would you stay here with Ianto?”

His baby blue eyes darken slightly. “I don’t have a definite answer for you, and I’m not sure that I ever will. Maybe when Ianto and Gwen are gone I might consider it, but not while they’re alive - or while  _ you’re _ alive.”

“I figured that’d be your answer.”

“Violet.”

Violet grins and runs from the room, speeding down the stairs to where Gwen and Ianto are. She hardly slows her steps, barrelling towards Ianto and throwing herself into his awaiting arms. Without missing a beat, she pulls back slightly and then kisses the unsuspecting male, causing him to freeze for a moment but quickly respond to the motion, returning the kiss. They pull apart when a cheeky whistle breaks the dead silence, and both look over to where Jack is standing, baby blue eyes dark with something different than earlier.

“That’s something I wouldn’t mind seeing every day,” Jack teases, but both Violet and Ianto know that he’s being dead serious. “Sure you don’t want to stay with us for a while, little love?”

“Oh, Jacky Boy.” Violet pulls River’s journal from her back pocket. “You and I both know that there’s a world out there I still have to live in.”

“But that’s…”

“The Doctor’s future, and mine and River’s. There’s even some stuff about you in here, so I do wonder what happens between now and the end of this book.” She frowns a moment and steps away from Ianto, staring at the blue cover. “The real end of the book is The Library in the 51st Century, but River finished it with the Singing Towers on Darillium with the Doctor’s Regeneration after his next one. Too bad I won’t live to see that version of him.”

Jack stares at the blue journal. “You know your future - something no one is ever meant to know - and you’re okay with what’s going to happen to you?”

Ianto takes the book when Violet offers to him and he skims through the object, his eyes widening at whatever it is that he finds. “How can you be alright with what’s going to happen to you?”

Violet briefly closes her eyes and sighs, nodding slightly and licking her dry lips. “I’ve lived a pretty good life in the grand scheme of things, and there’s really not much I would change.”

“Vi,” Jack says softly, walking up to her and pulling her into a hug. “You scare me sometimes.”

“I’m about to scare you more.”

Before the immortal man can reply, Violet pulls out of the hug and splays her palms on the sides of her lover’s face, closing her eyes and forcing her way into his mind. While his mind welcomes her, his physical body stiffens. However, she merely smiles for half a second before her expression turns serious, letting out a long breath through her nose and showing him everything that’s ever happened to her, and everything that she has ever felt. It’s this which his mind recoils from, trying its very best to fight off the onslaught of grotesque and bloody memories, and memories of abuse and manipulation.

He sees her grow from a young child, constantly moving house, and growing up surrounded by alcoholics and drug addicts in a small town in Australia, and he sees her harsh childhood without her father, a narcissistic man in his place. He sees a father that left his daughter to have another child with another woman, raising her half-brother most likely without him knowing of his older sister; a brother who she’s lucky to have met three times in her eighteen years of life. He feels her isolation and her fear, and it makes him feel sick. It’s hardly a life, but it was all she had.

He sees the countless wars she fought on alien worlds in different time periods - including the wars she fought alongside Jack in on Earth in the 19th and 20th centuries. There’s more blood spilled and lives snuffed out by her hands than either of them can count, and some of them her own flesh and blood. He sees corpses piled high and being burned to ash, and he can smell their rotting, burning flesh. There’s a sort of beauty to it, but it’s a grotesque one. He feels her rage and conflict, and her desperation to end all the fighting so she can go back to her family; to Jack. 

He sees himself die countless times, some by his own hand and others at the hands of others over the decades. Shot, stabbed, torn limb-from-limb, blown up, hung, and so many more. He sees himself giving up countless resurrections to Abadon in order to save all of humanity. It’s hard for him to watch, but he can feel the pure, unhindered agony and desolation and isolation and abandonment and heartbreak that Violet felt every time she saw him die, and he admits that it breaks his own heart feeling what she felt and seeing her broken.

The next thing he sees is completely different to that of what he saw before.

He sees next are families, Human and alien, sitting around and eating meals, being together as one, laughing and teasing. He sees Toshiko, Gwen and Owen sitting around laughing, the latter two picking on each other like there’s no tomorrow, Ianto and Jack himself standing slightly away from the other three and just smiling at their idiocy. Then he sees Violet standing between Jack and Ianto, a content smile on her face and her sapphire eyes glowing with life. The two men hold her close, their fingers linking where they meet over her middle.

Then it’s Rose and the Doctor, and Martha and Donna and Mickey - even briefly Lee from The Library. Sarah Jane Smith is somewhere in that family too, and so’s River - many different versions of the woman, but all with the same face. There are children running around, laughing gleefully as their parents - River and Violet - watch with loving eyes, the two soon joining their children in their playfulness. Those images soon fade into something that’s such a shock to Jack that he flinches.

He sees the stolen, quiet moments between himself and Violet over the decades, and the moments they both share with Ianto, and then the ones where it’s only Ianto and Violet. The love and passion is overflowing, and it’s so much that it’s almost too painful to feel and witness. He sees the moments of himself and Ianto follow those, and then the dance and kiss he shared with the real Captain Jack Harkness in the 1940’s due to the time shift. Flashes of himself and Violet dancing at those small moments of peace during the wars appear, and he smiles, feeling her utter adoration and love for the man in front of her.

They change to the small moments between Rose and Violet, which then evolve to that of the Doctor and Rose, and then to the Doctor and Violet. He sees the relationship of Mickey and Rose, and also that of Mickey and Martha strangely enough. Donna and Lee flicker into the myriad somewhere, holding hands and cuddling, with the occasional kiss here or there. River is the main individual in this part, her soft kisses and her warm hugs, and her unconditional support.

Violet rips herself away from Jack and her legs refuse to support her, Ianto dropping River’s journal and darting forward to catch her. Jack himself stumbles, steadying himself by taking hold of a bench, head bowed, hiding his expression but not the unending crystalline tears pouring free from his misty, baby blue eyes. Violet isn’t in much of a better state, crying and trembling in Ianto’s arms, fingers gripping his suit jacket tightly, her knuckles turning white.

“I am so fucking sorry,” Violet whispers brokenly, her voice thick with tears and cracking on each syllable. “I thought you deserved to know. I mean, considering how fucking important you are to me.”

Jack silently walks over to Violet and Ianto, and pulls the former away from the latter, holding her tightly against his body.

“Jack?”

“He’s speechless,” Ianto marvels. “What did you show him, Violet?”

Violet looks at Ianto with watery eyes for a moment before reaching out and placing two fingers on his forehead, giving him small flashes of what she showed Jack, watching as the Human’s expressions change rapidly and tears begin to flow. “I showed him everything, and, as much as I wish I could show you everything, it would kill you. So, you’re only getting a glimpse.”

He remains frozen for a moment after she removes her fingers, but the moment he’s able to move again, his arms are wrapped around both Violet and Jack, holding them as best he can. It’s then that Violet becomes aware that Gwen is nowhere to be seen, the three crying individuals being the only people in the vicinity at the moment.

“Come on, you two,” Violet murmurs. “Get it together. You’re meant to be the strong ones.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all.
> 
> So, I've already got an idea for how I'm going to kill Violet, and I'm not sure if anyone is really going to like it. 
> 
> I mean, if you've seen all of Torchwood and Doctor Who, then you'll understand exactly how I am going to kill her. For those of you who don't know, then I am so very sorry.
> 
> \- Chey xo -


	42. 𝟘𝟛𝟠 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

It’s only a few days later that everything goes to hell in a handbasket, and Violet’s not sure if that’s an exaggeration or not. A rather large tremor throws the furniture around in Cardiff, sending everyone in the _Torchwood_ Hub tumbling to the floor.

“Whoa, what happened?” Jack exclaims. “Was it the Rift? Gwen? Ianto? Violet? You okay?”

“No broken bones,” Ianto reports, helping Violet up. “Slight loss of dignity. No change there then.”

“The whole of the city must've felt that,” Gwen muses. “The whole of South Wales.”

“I'm going to take a look outside.” Jack runs out while Ianto activates a computer screen.

“A little bit bigger than South Wales,” Ianto says with disbelief.

Violet takes one look at the screen and sprints outside after Jack, finding him standing in the middle of the street near the Roald Dahl Plass.

“That's just impossible,” Jack breathes, taking Violet’s hand in his and holding it tightly.

**: : : :**

**Ealing, London**

In Ealing, London at the house of Sarah Jane Smith, the worried mother is checking up on her fourteen-year-old son. Her son, Luke, is climbing up off the floor when Sarah Jane hurries in, fussing over the young boy like only a mother could do.

“Luke, are you alright?” Sarah Jane asks her son, worried.

“Felt like some sort of cross-dimensional spatial transference,” Luke exclaims.

“But it's night. It wasn't night. It was eight o'clock in the morning. Mister Smith, I need you.”

A brick fireplace transforms into a computer.

“Can you just stop giving that fanfare? You just tell me what happened.”

“Sarah Jane, I think you should look outside,” Mr Smith, the computer, informs. “I think you'll find the visual evidence most conclusive.”

Sarah Jane runs outside and stares up at the sky, her eyes wide with horror. “That's impossible.”

**: : : :**

**Chiswick, London**

Outside the Nobles' home in Chiswick, Donna’s grandfather, Wilfred, is glaring around, ready to beat some sense into whatever kind of aliens have invaded his home planet this time, and all he has to do so is a wooden cricket bat.

“It's gone dark. It's them aliens, I'll bet my pension,” Wilf curses, brandishing his cricket bat. “What do you want this time, you green swine?”

“Dad,” Sylvia, Donna’s mother, calls.

“Look, you get back inside, Sylvia. They always want the women.”

“No, Dad, just look. Oh, my God. Look at the sky.”

**: : : :**

**UNIT, New York**

At UNIT in New York, Martha Jones has also felt the earth-shattering shock that sent nearly everything flying, and also sent people tumbling onto the hard floors of the base, battering and bruising the soldiers. After making sure nobody was seriously hurt, she rushes outside and stares up at the sky, her brown eyes filled with terror she’s only ever seen and never felt.

“It can't be,” she breathes in complete disbelief.

**: : : :**

**A Street in London, near Chiswick**

The milkman turns around to see a blonde woman toting a honking great weapon pop into existence. He’s startled to say the least, but he finds it to be the smallest of his problems once he takes note of the sky.

Rose looks up. “Right, now we're in trouble.” She powers up the gun. “It's only just beginning.”

Instead of distant stars, the sky is filled with other planets in close proximity.

**: : : :**

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

For some odd reason, the TV is on in the _Torchwood_ Hub, and both Violet and Ianto are sitting in front of it, watching some random talk show the male put on. She’s not entirely watching it, more focused on her inability to get in contact with either the Doctor or Donna, and her rising anxiety of the situation at hand.

“The United Nations has issued an edict, asking the citizens of the world not to panic,” Amnn informs. “So far, there has been no explanation of the twenty six planets which have appeared in the sky

“But it's an empirical fact,” Richard Dawkins dismisses. “The planets didn't come to us, we came to them. Just look at the stars. We're in a completely different region of space. We've travelled.”

“…do you know what, I look up and there's all these moons and things,” Paul O’Grady relays. “Have you seen them? Did you see them?”

“Yeah!” the audience replies.

“I thought, what was I drinking last night, furniture polish?”

Ianto laughs with the studio audience and Violet blinks several times before letting out a half disgusted, half irritated sigh. She has never been able to understand how some people find this kind of thing amusing, but she supposes that it’s due to everyone on planet Earth being completely different no matter how hard they try to assimilate with “normal” society - whatever that is.

“Ianto,” Jack warns. “Time and a place.”

“He is funny, though,” Ianto sighs, but he evidently turns off the TV.

“Violet, Gwen, come and see.”

Violet groans in mock complaint but swings her legs off Ianto’s lap and hops off the chair, hurrying up to Jack while Gwen finishes phoning her other half. Ianto soon follows and Gwen’s call comes to an end, leading to four people crowding around the computer Jack’s working at.

Jack clicks on something. “Someone's established an artificial atmospheric shell, keeping the air and holding in the heat.”

“Whoever's done this wants the human race alive. That's a plus,” Ianto muses, a hint of sarcastic amusement in his voice. “Twenty seven planets, including the Earth.”

As the planets on the scan move in their orbits, a flashing red dot appears in the middle.

“No, but what's that?” Gwen asks. “That's not a planet.”

**: : : :**

**Ealing, London**

“The reading seems to be artificial in construction,” Mr Smith informs.

“Some sort of space station sitting at the heart of the web,” Sarah Jane muses.

“They're fine,” Luke says on the phone. “Maria and her dad, they're still in Cornwall. I told them to stay indoors. And Clyde's all right. He's with his mum.”

“Sarah Jane, I have detected movement,” Mr Smith says. “Observe.”

Luke hangs up and stares at the screen. “Spaceships.”

**: : : :**

**UNIT, New York**

Army brass are taking control.

“Tracking two hundred objects. Earthbound trajectory,” Sanchez declares. “Geneva is calling a Code Red. Everyone to battle positions. Doctor Jones, if you're not too busy.”

“I'm trying to phone the Doctor, sir,” Martha informs, phone to her ear.

“And?”

“There's no signal. This number calls anywhere in the universe. It never breaks down. They must be blocking it, whoever they are.”

“We're about to find out. They're coming into orbit.”

**: : : :**

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

Violet turns the TV back on and switches it to BBC News. “We're now getting confirmed reports of spaceships. The Pentagon has issued an emergency report saying that two hundred objects are now heading towards Earth in a regular pattern.”

“Three thousand miles and closing,” Gwen informs. “But who are they?”

Jack's mobile rings and he puts it on speaker. “Martha Jones, voice of a nightingale. Tell me you put something in my drink.”

“No such luck,” Martha laughs slightly. “Have you heard from the Doctor?”

“Not a word. Where are you?”

“New York.”

“Ooo, nice for some”

“I've been promoted. Medical Director on Project Indigo.”

“Did you get that thing working?” Jack and Violet ask, delight and interest in their voices.

“Indigo's top secret. No one's supposed to know about it.”

“Jack met a soldier in a bar,” Violet laughs. “And I may have or may have not accompanied him.”

Jack grins. “It’s a long story.”

“When was that?” Ianto asks, jealousy slipping into his usually controlled voice.

“Strictly professional.”

“Fifteen hundred miles, boys, and accelerating,” Gwen warns. “They're almost here.”

Suddenly, an incoming transmission from the spaceships is played and Violet almost screams out in pure terror, her legs instantly giving out and making her fall back onto Jack. He is rigid, she is trembling, and it’s one whole shit ass mess that both wish that they weren’t here to see.

“Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate,” the Daleks recite, their static, electronic voices making Violet whimper. “Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate.”

“No,” Jack breathes.

“Exterminate. Exterminate.”

“Oh, no.”

“What is it? Who are they?” Gwen asks, her own voice fearful. “Do you know them, Jack?”

Jack pulls Ianto and Gwen close and kisses them both on the forehead before also doing the same to Violet once Ianto his holding her upright.

“Exterminate. Exterminate,” the Daleks continue. “Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate. Exterminate.”

“There's nothing I can do,” Jack tells them.

“Exterminate.”

“I'm sorry. We're dead.”


	43. 𝟘𝟛𝟡 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

Violet whimpers and clutches at whoever’s shirt she is holding onto. “No. No no no no. I can’t. I can’t. I can’t breathe… Jack… Ianto… Can’t breathe…”

“Violet.” Hands are cupping her face. “I need you to breathe for me. Come on. Jack’s gone to get something for you.”

“Ianto…”

“It’s going to be alright.”

“No.” She manages to raise a hand to Ianto’s face and show him, his hands falling from her face. “This why…nothing going to be...alright. Have to...run.”

Jack thunders back down the stairs and falls to his knees beside a twitching and crying and whimpering Violet who is struggling to breathe. He briefly takes in the petrified look on Ianto’s face before injecting the medicine into her body, making her shudder out a weak breath as the icy sensation works its way through her body, relaxing her muscles and helping her to regulate her breathing. She tightly grips one of Jack’s hands and one of Ianto’s hands, holding on to two of the people she loves - and will always love.

Ianto recovers at the contact and reciprocates the hand squeeze, Jack raising the hand in his hold to his lips and kissing it gently, making Violet smile softly down at her first love. She leans down and kisses Ianto softly and briefly, more of a peck than anything, and then does the same to Jack, resting her forehead against his as tears burn her eyes and her breathing speeds up again. Both hands tighten their hold on the physically younger girl and Ianto wraps his arms around her, holding her close - both for her and for himself. Jack smiles softly at the two, and that’s all he can really do from his spot on the floor except for hold Violet’s hand.

Ianto places a soft kiss behind Violet’s ear before standing and hurrying over to one of the computers, typing something that brings up a range of contacts with the world’s best security. Gwen appears at the other lot of computers and does the same, her eyes terrified but determined all the same. Moments later, multiple voices are ringing out through radio and into the Hub. At that, Jack and Violet steel themselves and begin to do the work they’re meant to.

“The shields are down. There's too many of them,” the captain of the  _ Valiant _ declares. “Abandon ship.”

“The  _ Valiant _ 's down!” Jack exclaims, running around the Hub.

“Air force retreating over North Africa,” Ianto informs.

Violet curses. “Daleks landing in Japan.”

“We've lost contact with the Prime Minister's plane,” Gwen informs. “Jack! Manhattan.”

“Martha, get out of there,” Jack yells to the dark-skinned woman still on the phone.

Martha is bandaging a wounded man's head. “I can't, Jack. I've got a job to do.”

“They're targeting military bases and you're next on the list,” Violet yells at the older woman, slamming her hands onto the nearest table. “You need to get the fuck out of there, Martha!”

“Doctor Jones, you will come with me,” Sanchez orders. “Project Indigo is being activated. Quick march.”

“But we can't use Project Indigo,” Martha replies, but hurries after the soldier anyway. “It hasn't been tested, sir. We don't even know if it works.”

“Put it on. Fast as you can.”

“Martha, I'm telling you,” Jack warns. “Don't use Project Indigo. It's not safe.”

“You take your orders from UNIT, Doctor Jones,” Sanchez almost growls. “Not from  _ Torchwood _ .”

Martha puts on the backpack. “But why me?”

“You're our only hope of finding the Doctor, but, failing that, if no help is coming, then with the power invested in me by the Unified Intelligence Taskforce, I authorise you to take this. The Osterhagen Key.” 

“I can't take that, sir.”

“You know what to do, for the sake of the human race.”

Martha takes it as the building shakes.

“Doctor Jones, good luck.”

“Bye, Jack,” Martha says softly. “Bye, Violet.”

“Martha, don't do it,” the two plead.

Martha pulls two ripcords on the backpack and vanishes in a bright light as the General and the soldier die.

“Don't!” Jack yells.

“What's Project Indigo?” Ianto asks.

“Experimental teleport salvaged from the Sontarans,” Violet growls. “But they haven't got coordinates, or stabilisation.”

“So where is she?” Gwen asks cautiously.

“Scattered into atoms,” Jack says, his voice dangerous. “Martha's down.”


	44. 𝟘𝟜𝟘 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

“Can anyone hear me?” a woman’s voice calls, startling Violet. “The Subwave Network is open. You should be able to hear my voice. Is there anyone there?”

A static ridden picture comes on the computer screen, making the young half Time Lord frown. She shares a look with Jack before turning back to the screen

“Who's that?” a young male voice asks.

“Some poor soul calling for help,” an older woman replies, the familiarity of the voice making Violet smile.

“Can anyone hear me?” the first woman repeats.

“There's nothing we can do.”

“But look at Mister Smith,” the young male says.

“Processing incoming Subwave,” a robotic voice informs.

“This message is of the utmost importance,” the first woman pleads. “We haven't much time. Can anyone hear me?”

“Someone's trying to get in touch,” Gwen informs.

“The whole world's crying out,” Jack sighs, sounding completely drained and defeated. “Just leave it.”

The image starts to resolve into colour and a woman appears on the screen. “Captain Jack Harkness, shame on you. Now stand to attention, sir.”

“What? Who is that?” He hurries over to Violet and stares at the screen.

Harriet holds up her ID. “Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister.”

“Yeah, I know who you are.”

“Sarah Jane Smith, 13 Bannerman Road. Are you there?”

“Yeah,” Sarah Jane replies. “Yeah, I'm here. That, that's me.”

“Sarah Jane, it’s Violet,” the half Time Lord greets, a wide smile on her face. “Do you remember me?”

“Yes, I remember, Vi.”

“Good,” Harriet replies, cutting their reunion short. “Now, let's see if we can talk to each other.”

Three images come up on the four quarters of the screen - Harriet, Jack and Violet, Sarah Jane and Luke, and static.

“The fourth contact seems to be having some trouble getting through. I'll just boost the signal.”

Martha appears on the screen. “Hello?”

“Ha, ha!” Jack exclaims, a wide grin on his face. “Martha Jones. Martha, where are you?”

“I guess Project Indigo was more clever than we thought. One second I was in Manhattan, next second. Maybe Indigo tapped into my mind, because I ended up in the one place that I wanted to be. But then all of a sudden, it's like the laptop turned itself on.”

“It did. That was me,” Harriet informs. “Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister.”

“Yes, I know who you are.”

“I thought it was about time we all met given the current crisis. Torchwood, this is Sarah Jane Smith.”

“I've been following your work,” Jack appreciates. “Nice job with the Slitheen.”

“Yeah, well, I've been staying away from you lot,” Sarah Jane retorts. “Too many guns.” She nods towards young Luke.

“All the same, might I say looking good, ma'am?”

“Really? Ooo.”

“Not now, Captain. And Martha Jones, former companion to the Doctor.” Harriet squints at her screen. “And it appears we have the Doctor’s wife with us too. Hello, Violet.”

Violet rolls her eyes. “The news must have travelled back in time to reach your ears, Harriet Jones.”

“We know quite a lot about you, except for certain things we’ve found to be unattainable.”

“Let me guess, like my race and age? Also my other relationships and marriages? Yeah, I know. I’m good when it comes to hiding things.”

“But how did you find me?” Martha asks, cutting off the almost bitch fight with an amused smile.

“This, ladies and gentlemen, this is the Subwave Network,” Harriet declares. “A sentient piece of software programmed to seek out anyone and everyone who can help to contact the Doctor.”

“What if the Daleks can hear us?”

“No, that's the beauty of the Subwave. It's undetectable.”

“And you invented it?” Sarah Jane asks.

“I developed it. It was created by the Mister Copper Foundation.”

“Yeah, but what we need right now is a weapon,” Jack says, crossing his arms over his chest. “Martha, back there at UNIT, what, what did they give you? What was that key thing?”

“The Osterhagen key,” Martha informs.

“That key is not to be used, Doctor Jones,” Harriet says, a warning tone in her voice. “Not under any circumstances.”

“But what is an Osterhagen key?” Jack asks.

“Forget about the key, and that's an order. All we need is the Doctor.”

Violet looks over her shoulder at Jack. “It basically controls all the nuclear weapons on this planet. It’ll blow up the planet.”

The bewildered and horrified looks on Jack’s, Ianto’s and Gwen’s faces would be laughable at any time other than where it appears to be the end of all life on the twenty-seven planets thanks to a genocidal race of aliens, so Violet remains with a blank expression as she turns back to the screen, and the conversation she briefly left.

“But I've been trying to find him,” Martha stresses. “The Doctor's got my phone on the TARDIS, but I can't get through.”

“I haven’t had any luck either,” Violet informs. “I’m guessing the thing we have in common doesn’t wanna work either.”

“That's why we need the Subwave,” Harriet informs. “To bring us all together. Combine forces. The Doctor's secret army.”

“Wait a minute. We boost the signal. That's it,” Jack exclaims, utterly delighted at his idea. “We transmit that telephone number through  _ Torchwood  _ itself, using all the power of the Rift.”

“And we've got Mister Smith,” Sarah Jane’s son, Luke, adds. “He can link up with every telephone exchange on the Earth. He can get the whole world to call the same number, all at the same time. Billions of phones, calling out all at once”

“Brilliant. Who's the kid?”

“That's my son,” Sarah Jane replies.

“Excuse me. Sorry. Sorry. Hello. Ianto Jones,” Ianto says awkwardly, pushing his way onto the screen. “Er, if we start transmitting, then this Subwave Network is going to become visible. I mean, to the Daleks.”

“Yes, and they'll trace it back to me,” Harriet informs, making Violet’s stomach drop. “But my life doesn't matter. Not if it saves the Earth.”

Jack salutes. “Ma'am.”

“Thank you, Captain. But there are people out there dying on the streets. Now, enough of words. Let's begin.”

Jack, Gwen and Ianto spring into action, the former two heading to the other computer and Ianto heading to the Rift Generator in the middle of the Hub. Violet shrinks down the Subwave Network and begins to work on coordinating all the terminals in the Hub, her fingers flying across the keyboard at a pace not many could match. While she does that, she starts humming a song that doesn’t come out for another few years, earning confused looks from everyone except Jack, who starts humming along with her.

Soon they’re quietly singing top hits from the next decade, leaving everyone else utterly confused as to what is going on in front of them. Violet can’t help but laugh at the bewildered looks as they start yet another song, this one a hit from 2011; two years in the future. Jack lets out a loud laugh at the song of choice, but he sings it all the same, and that makes Violet grin, now knowing that the 51st Century man is the biggest damn fangirl of all time.

“Rift power activated,” Jack declares.

“All terminals coordinated,” Violet informs.

Ianto plugs in a big power cable. “National grid online. Giving you everything we've got.”

“Connecting you to Mister Smith,” Sarah Jane informs.

“All telephone networks combined,” Luke declares.

“Sending you the number now,” Martha calls.

_ Calling 07700 900461. _

“Opening Subwave Network to maximum,” Harriet says, typing away.

“Mister Smith, make that call,” Sarah Jane orders.

Mr Smith does just that. “Calling the Doctor.”

“And sending.” Jack hits the enter button.

Circles of energy pulse out from the ornamental waterfall in Roald Dahl Plass.


	45. 𝟘𝟜𝟙 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟜)

**TARDIS**

“Phone,” the Doctor exclaims, rushing around the console.

“Doctor, phone,” Donna says, throwing the phone Martha gave him to the Time Lord himself.

He answers it. “Martha, is that you? It's a signal.”

“Can we follow it?”

The Doctor dons his stethoscope. “Oh, just watch me.”

**: : : :**

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

Things are going _b_ _ ang! _ with the energy overload.

“I think we've got a fix,” Jack declares.

“Mister Smith now at two hundred per cent,” Sarah Jane informs.

_ Bang! _ Sparks fly everywhere, making Violet shield her eyes.

“Oh, come on, Doctor.”

**: : : :**

**TARDIS**

“Got it,” the Doctor yells in delight. “Locking on.”

**: : : :**

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

“Harriet, a saucer's locked on to your location,” Gwen says. “They've found you.”

“I know,” Harriet informs, typing away. “I'm using the Network to mask your transmission. Keep going.”

“Exterminate,” a Dalek screeches.

The curtains blow in from an explosion on the screen and Violet grits her teeth.

**: : : :**

**TARDIS**

Similar to that at the  _ Torchwood  _ Hub and at Sarah Jane’s house, there are a series of  _ bangs, _ as well as sparks and flames on the time machine.

“We're travelling through time. One second in the future,” the Doctor declares. “The phone call's pulling us through.”

**: : : :**

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

“Captain, Violet, I'm transferring the Subwave Network to Torchwood,” the former Prime Minister informs. “You're in charge now. And tell the Doctor from me, he chose his companions well. It's been an honour.” Harriet gets up to face the three Daleks who have smashed their way in, and shows her ID. “Harriet Jones. Former Prime Minister.”

“Yes, we know who you are,” a Dalek informs.

“Oh, you know nothing of any human, and that will be your downfall.”

“Exterminate.”

The first quarter of the screen dissolves into static and Violet curses loudly, smashing her clenched fists against the table, her head dropping forward as she continues to swear, albeit more quietly, under her breath. However, when he Doctor, Donna and Lee scream as the planets pop into existence around them, Violet’s head snaps up at she stares at the screen with amusement. The TARDIS stops shaking and the three aboard all find their footing once again, no longer having to hold onto anything to stay upright.

“Twenty seven planets,” Donna marvels. “And there's the Earth. But why couldn't we see them?”

“The entire Medusa Cascade has been put a second out of sync with the rest of the universe,” the Doctor explains. “Perfect hiding place. Tiny little pocket of time. But we found them. Ooo, ooo, ooo, what's that? Hold on, hold on. Some sort of Subwave Network.”

The Doctor and Donna take Harriet's quarter of the screen.

“Where the hell have you been?” Jack demands, standing behind Violet. “Doctor, it's the Daleks.”

“Oh, he's a bit nice,” Gwen admires. “I thought he'd be older.”

“He's not that young,” Ianto tells the girl, making Violet laugh.

“He’s over 900 years old, love,” Violet agrees, making Gwen become dumbfounded. “A little bit out of your age limit.”

“It's the Daleks,” Sarah Jane informs. “They're taking people to their spaceship.”

“It's not just Dalek Caan,” Martha adds.

“They surrendered,” Jack says.

“Sarah Jane. Who's that boy?” The Doctor grins. “That must be  _ Torchwood _ and Violet. Oh, they're brilliant. Look at you all, you clever people.”

“That's Martha,” Donna says with a smile. “And who's he?” Her finger rests on the screen.

“Captain Jack. Don't. Just don't.”

“Stay away from our Jack,” Violet half teases. “Ianto and I will have your hands, Donna.”

“It's like an outer space Facebook.”

“Everyone except Rose,” the Doctor sighs.

Violet briefly closes her eyes before letting out a sigh. “Doctor, stop torturing yourself. She’s alive and well wherever she is.”


	46. 𝟘𝟜𝟚 ▹ 𝕋𝕙𝕖 𝕊𝕥𝕠𝕝𝕖𝕟 𝔼𝕒𝕣𝕥𝕙 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟝)

**Torchwood, Cardiff**

The screen goes blank, making Violet panic for a moment, but then she realises that they can still hear each other.

“Oh,” the Doctor says in surprise.

“We've lost them,” Donna says.

“No, no, no, no, no. There's another signal coming through. There's someone else out there. Hello? Can you hear me? Rose?”

“Your voice is different, and yet its arrogance is unchanged,” an all too familiar voice rasps.

“No,” Sarah Jane breathes. “But he's dead.”

Violet freezes, her eyes widened to their limits and full of unadulterated fear. Her entire body is quaking and her eyes are filling with tears, her breathing shaking and erratic, all colour draining from her face and leaving behind a pale white colour; paler than her natural colour. Her right hand latches on to the closest person to her, which turns out to be Jack, and her hold is like iron - her fingers digging into his arm with a bruising force and her unusually long fingernails digging into his bared skin, drawing blood.

Jack barely flinches, his free hand coming to rest atop the one of hers latched onto his arm, not as fearful as Violet is, but still rather scared. He knows that when the young girl is scared of something, he should be afraid too, but for terror this pure and  _ human _ , he isn’t quite sure how to feel. So, in light of that, Jack simply places his hand on Violet’s as Ianto steps up behind her and takes hold of the quaking, limp hand resting on the desk in front of them.

“Welcome to my new Empire, Doctor,” the rasping voice declares with ancient glee. “It is only fitting that you should bear witness to the resurrection and the triumph of Davros, lord and creator of the Dalek race.”

“Doctor?” Donna asks.

“Have you nothing to say?”

“Doctor, it's all right. We're, we're in the TARDIS. We're safe.”

“But you were destroyed. In the very first year of the Time War, at the Gates of Elysium,” the Doctor growls. “I saw your command ship fly into the jaws of the Nightmare Child. I tried to save you.”

“But it took one stronger than you,” Davros says. “Dalek Caan himself.”

“I flew into the wild and fire,” Dalek Caan cackles with insanity. “I danced and died a thousand times.”

“Emergency Temporal Shift took him back into the Time War itself.”

“But that's impossible,” the Doctor breathes. “The entire War is timelocked.”

“And yet he succeeded,” Davros laughs. “Oh, it cost him his mind, but imagine: a single, simple Dalek succeeded where Emperors and Time Lords have failed. A testament, don't you think, to my remarkable creations?”

“And you made a new race of Daleks.”

“I gave myself to them, quite literally. Each one grown from a cell of my own body.” Davros opens his tunic to reveal his bare ribs with just a few nerve endings over them, and his internal organs inside. “New Daleks. True Daleks. I have my children, Doctor. What do you have, now?”

“After all this time, everything we saw, everything we lost, I have only one thing to say to you. Bye!” He throws a lever and the TARDIS flies off.

Alarms blare in the  _ Torchwood  _ Hub only moments later and Violet rips herself out of her stupor, molten rage taking place of the icy fear that had her frozen. She leaps up from her seat and flies up the stairs to Jack’s office, tearing open her bag until she finds her homemade alien blasters she put in there when she found them the other day locked away in the Archives in the Hub. Violet grins and attaches the holsters to her thighs, slipping the blasters into the holsters before sprinting back down to the others.

“Gwen, Dalek saucer heading for the Bay,” Ianto calls. “They've found us.”

“Martha, open that Indigo device,” Jack orders. “Now listen to me. Lift the central panel. There's a string of numbers that keep changing, but the fourth number keeps oscillating between two different digits. Tell me what they are.”

“It's a four and a nine,” Martha tells him. “We could never work out what that was.”

“Yeah, that's the teleport base code. And that's all I need, to get this thing working again.” Jack activates the teleport function on his Vortex Manipulator and grins at Violet. “Oscillating four and nine. Thank you, Martha Jones.”

Gwen gives Jack a big weapon, and Violet rolls her eyes at the obnoxious thing. She pats her altered Nighthawk Heinie Lady Hawk Compact 9mm pistols and winks at Ianto, making the male smile in amusement. Violet kisses the man for a final time before walking over to Jack, linking left hand’s fingers with his right and smiling sadly at Ianto. Jack sighs and squeezes his lover’s hand comfortingly, smiling briefly down at the physically younger girl.

“We have to go. I've got to find the Doctor, and Violet, well, she’s just gonna tag along for the ride” Jack informs. “I'll come back. I'm coming back.”

Violet shakes her head and smiles. “I’ve got to find my  _ other  _ stupid husband with the help of  _ this  _ stupid husband. I’m not sure whether I’m going to be coming back with Jack or not.”

“Don't worry about us,” Gwen says with a smile. “Just go.”

“We'll be fine,” Ianto confirms.

“You'd better be,” Jack says.

Jack and Violet vanish, leaving Ianto and Gwen to deal with whatever comes through the doors to the  _ Torchwood  _ Hub. They appear in a deserted street not too far from where the Doctor and Donna, and soon Rose, are. Jack readies his weapon and Violet pulls her alien blasters from their holsters, a slightly maniacal expression on her face as she looks around. It’s been probably close to a century since she’s held these guns, and she’s missed the feeling of power they give her.

The last time she held them, lots of beings died.

“Don’t lose yourself, little love,” Jack half pleads, half orders.

Violet looks up at him and gives him a wild grin. “No promises, Jacky Boy.”

“Violet.”

“Yeah, I know. I’m sorry. Just a little on edge, and paranoid, because these things have helped me kill so many people - alien and Human - and I’ve kinda missed how invincible and wild they make me feel.”

Jack smiles slightly. “That’s why I took them from you. You almost got us both killed last time.”

Violet laughs. “Oh, fuck off! That was you, love.  _ You  _ almost got us killed.”

**: : : :**

**Nobles' Home**

Rose has collects her gun and makes a phone call. “Control, I need another shift. Lock me onto the TARDIS, now.” The blonde hangs up and faces Donna’s family. “Right, I'm going to find him. Wish me luck.”

“Oh, good luck,” Sylvia says.

Wilf smiles. “Yeah, good luck, sweetheart.”

Rose vanishes in a blinding flash.

**: : : :**

**Street near a Church**

Jack and Violet are walking down a street when two familiar voices sound in the isolated, no,  _ abandoned _ area. They both smile and quicken their pace.

“Like a ghost town,” Donna’s voice rings out.

“Sarah Jane said they were taking the people,” the Doctor says. “What for? Think, Donna. When you met Rose in that parallel world, what did she say?”

“Just, the darkness is coming.”

“Anything else?”

“Why don't you ask her yourself?”

Violet turns her head to the side and sees that Rose is walking down the street towards the Doctor and Donna. The Doctor runs towards her and Rose herself begins to run. Violet almost does the same, but she hears a Dalek cry “exterminate” and fire. She and Jack teleport from their current position and appear behind the Dalek, just as the Dalek's ray grazes the Doctor, but still lights him up and knocks him down. Jack and Violet blast the Dalek into pieces and run to the Doctor, Donna doing the same.

Rose gets to the Doctor first. “I've got you. It missed you. Look, it's me, Doctor.”

“Rose,” the Doctor says with a soft smile.

“Hi.”

“Long time no see.”

“Yeah. Been busy, you know,” Rose laughs, but it’s cut short when the man in her arms groans. “Don't die. Oh, my God. Don't die. Oh my god, don't die.”

“Get him into the TARDIS, quick,” Jack orders. “Move.”

Jack and Violet heave the Doctor up off the ground and Donna leads them to the TARDIS, Rose hot on their heels. They manage to get inside and sit the Doctor on the chair, watching as he sort of convulses. Lee runs into the console room and is by Donna’s side within seconds, staring at the Time Lord with confusion and worry. Violet is by the man’s side, worry burning in her grey-blue eyes as she clutches Jack’s hand in her right hand, desperate for something to ground her right now and stop her from going on a murderous rampage, killing every Dalek she comes across.

“What, what do we do?” Donna rambles, clutching her boyfriend. “There must be some medicine or something.”

“Just step back,” Jack orders, pulling Violet away from her second husband as he backs away. “Rose, do as I say, and get back. He's dying and you know what happens next.”

“What do you mean?” “He can't.”

“Oh, no,” Rose whispers. “I came all this way.”

“What do you mean, what happens next?” Donna demands.

The Doctor’s right hand begins to glow. “ It's starting.”

“Here we go,” Jack says, holding Violet to his body to prevent her from running away. “Good luck, Doctor.”

“Will someone please tell me what is going on?” Donna growls.

:When he's dying, his er, his body, it repairs itself. It changes,” Rose explains as best she can. “But you can't!”

“I'm sorry, it's too late,” the Doctor apologises. “I'm Regenerating.”


	47. 𝟘𝟜𝟛 ▹ 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪'𝕤 𝔼𝕟𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

The Doctor has golden energy streaming from his hands and head, and everyone on the TARDIS believe the Doctor is regenerating. With an effort, the Doctor turns and points both hands towards his spare hand in the jar by the time console. It absorbs it and he is released.

“Now then,” he says cheerfully. “Where were we? 

Donna, Jack and Rose are stunned, and Violet has an unamused expression on her face.

The Doctor checks on his glowing spare hand. “There now.” He blows on the jar and the glowing stops. “You see? Used the regeneration energy to heal myself, but soon as I was done, I didn't need to change. I didn't want to. Why would I? Look at me. So, to stop the energy going all the way, I siphoned off the rest into a handy bio-matching receptacle, namely my hand. My hand there. My handy spare hand. Remember? Christmas Day, Sycorax. Lost my hand in a sword fight? That's my hand. What do you think?”

“You're still you?” Rose asks.

“I'm still me.” 

The Doctor and Rose hug. 

Donna turns to Jack and Violet, but more so Jack. “You can hug me, if you want. No, really. You can hug me.”

Violet pushes the older woman to her boyfriend and playfully bares her teeth as she holds Jack, claiming him as hers. Donna laughs and hugs Lee, the taller male hugging her back, but still confused at the events that just happened in front of his eyes. However, before they have much more of a chance to celebrate, the power goes out. Violet curses and she and the Doctor rush to the console, giving each other smiles before beginning to press buttons.

“They've got us. Power's gone,” the Doctor rambles, hitting buttons on the console. “Some kind of chronon loop.”

The TARDIS tilts with a jerk and Violet stumbles into Jack.

“There's a massive Dalek ship at the centre of the planets,” Jack informs. “They're calling it the Crucible. Guess that's our destination.”

“You said these planets were like an engine,” Donna says. “But what for?”

“Rose, you've been in a parallel world,” the Doctor says. “That world's running ahead of this universe. You've seen the future. What was it?”

“It's the darkness,” Rose informs.

“The stars were going out,” Donna adds.

“One by one. We looked up at the sky and they were just dying. Basically, we've been building this, er, this travel machine, this, this er, dimension cannon, so I could. Well, so I could…”

“What?” the Doctor asks, a somewhat cheeky smile on his face.

“So I could come back. Shut up,” Rose says, embarrassed. “Anyway, suddenly, it started to work and the dimensions started to collapse. Not just in our world, not just in yours, but the whole of reality. Even the Void was dead. Something is destroying everything.”

“In that parallel world, you said something about me,” Donna says.

“The dimension cannon could measure timelines, and it's, it's weird, Donna, but they all seemed to converge on you.”

“But why me? I mean, what have I ever done? I'm a temp from Chiswick.”

The scanner beeps and the Doctor gains a grim expression. “The Dalek Crucible. All aboard.”

“Doctor, you will step forth or die,” a red Dalek orders.

“We'll have to go out. Because if we don't, they'll get in.”

“You told me nothing could get through those doors,” Rose protests.

“You've got extrapolator shielding,” Jack exclaims.

“Last time we fought the Daleks, they were scavengers and hybrids, and mad,” the Doctor explains. “But this is a fully-fledged Dalek Empire, at the height of its power. Experts at fighting TARDIS’, they can do anything. Right now, that wooden door is just wood.

Donna can hear a heartbeat thumping in her ears.

“What about your dimension jump?” Jack asks Rose.

“It needs another twenty minutes,” Rose tells him. “And anyway, I'm not leaving.”

“What about your teleport?” the Doctor asks his second wife and Jack.

“Went down with the power loss,” Jack says.

Violet taps hers. “Even mine’s not working. Sorry, my love.”

“Right then,” the Doctor exclaims. “All of us together. Yeah. Donna?”

Donna is staring at nothing. 

He snaps her out of it. “Donna?”

“Yeah,” she says, still a bit out of it.

“I'm sorry. There's nothing else we can do.”

“No, I know.”

“Daleks,” Rose says with a small laugh, remembering the second time they went up against the monsters.

“Oh, God,” Jack says, holding Violet’s hand tightly, knowing what it felt like to die by a Dalek.

“Not the first time I’ve gone against these fuckers,” Violet says, trying to sound braver and stronger than she currently feels.

“It's been good, though, hasn't it? All of us. All of it. Everything we did.” He turns to Donna. “You were brilliant.” He turns to Jack. “And you were brilliant.” He turns to Rose. “And you were brilliant.” He turns to Violet. “And you were so brilliant.” He turns to Lee. “And you were brilliant too.” He faces the doors and lets out a gust of breath, shaking his head. “Blimey.”

The Doctor leads his companions out of the TARDIS, but Donna is lagging behind, Lee standing beside her. The TARDIS door slams shut, trapping both Donna and Lee inside. A trapdoor opens under the TARDIS and it drops.

**: : : :**

“Total TARDIS destruction in ten rels. Nine, eight, seven, six,” a Dalek counts. “Five, four, three, two, one.”

“The TARDIS has been destroyed,” the Red Dalek declares. “Now tell me, Doctor. What do you feel? Anger? Sorrow? Despair?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor replies, emotions boiling beneath his somewhat calm exterior.

“Then if emotions are so important, surely we have enhanced you?”

“Yeah? Feel this!” Jack produces a small revolver and shoots at the Red Dalek.

“Exterminate!” The Red Dalek zaps Jack.

“You fucker,” Violet curses at the Dalek, dropping down and cradling Jack’s head in her lap.

“Jack,” Rose exclaims. “Oh, my God. Oh, no.”

“Rose, come here,” the Doctor orders softly. “Leave him.”

“They killed him.”

“I know. I'm sorry.”

“Escort them to the Vault,” the Red Dalek orders.

“There's nothing we can do,” the Doctor says.

“They are the playthings of Davros now.”

Jack blinks and Violet lets out a small, relieved sigh.


	48. 𝟘𝟜𝟜 ▹ 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪'𝕤 𝔼𝕟𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

**The Vault**

“Activate the holding cells,” Davros orders.

Spotlights shine down on the Doctor, Violet and Rose.

“Excellent. Even when powerless, a Time Lord is best contained.”

“Still scared of me, then?”

“It is time we talked, Doctor. After so very long.”

“No, no, no, no, no. We're not doing the nostalgia tour. I want to know what's happening right here, right now, because the Supreme Dalek said Vault, yeah? As in dungeon, cellar, prison. You're not in charge of the Daleks, are you? They've got you locked away down here in the basement like, what, a servant? Slave? Court jester?”

“We have an arrangement.”

“No, no, no, no, no. No, I've got the word. You're the Dalek's pet!”

“So very full of fire, is he not.” Davros turns to Rose with what can be only called a pitiful expression. “And to think you crossed entire universes, striding parallel to parallel to find him again.”

“Leave her alone,” the Doctor warns.

“She is mine to do as I please.”

“Then why am I still alive?” Rose demands.

“Rose, you can’t just ask the Dalek leader why you’re still alive,” Violet sasses. “It’s just not right.”

“You are a strange Human child,” Davros says to Violet before he turns back to addressing Rose’s question. “You must be here. It was foretold. Even the Supreme Dalek would not dare to contradict the prophecies of Dalek Caan.”

Dalek Caan cackles. “So cold and dark. Fire is coming. The endless flames.”

“What is that thing?” Rose asks with disgust.

“You've met before,” the Doctor informs. “The last of the Cult of Skaro. But it flew into the Time War, unprotected.”

“Caan did more than that,” Davros rasps with delight. “He saw time. Its infinite complexity and majesty, raging through his mind. And he saw you. Both of you, but not this young one you have with you.”

“This I have foreseen, in the wild and the wind. The Doctor will be here as witness, at the end of everything,” Dalek Caan cries happily. “The Doctor and his precious Children of Time. And one of them will die.”

“Was it you, Caan? Did you kill Donna? Why did the TARDIS door close?” the Doctor rages. “Tell me!”

“Oh, that's it. The anger, the fire, the rage of a Time Lord who butchered millions. There he is,” Davros taunts. “Why so shy? Show your companions. Show them your true self. Dalek Caan has promised me that too.”

“I have seen, at the time of ending, the Doctor's soul will be revealed,” Dalek Caan says, twitching in what remains of his metal Dalek shell.

“What does that mean?” the Doctor growls.

Davros chuckles, but it sounds more like he’s choking. “We will discover it together. Our final journey. Because the ending approaches. The testing begins.”

“Testing of what?”

“The Reality bomb.”

**: : : :**

“Doctor, what happened?” Rose exclaims, watching people fall to pieces on the screen.

“Electrical energy, Miss Tyler,” Davros graciously explains. “Every atom in existence is bound by an electrical field. The Reality bomb cancels it out. Structure falls apart. That test was focused on the prisoners alone. Full transmission will dissolve every form of matter.”

“The stars are going out.”

Violet grits her teeth. “The twenty seven planets. They become one vast transmitter, blasting that wavelength.”

“Across the entire universe. Never stopping, never faltering, never fading,” Davros continues. “People and planets and stars will become dust, and the dust will become atoms, and the atoms will become nothing. And the wavelength will continue, breaking through the Rift at the heart of the Medusa Cascade into every dimension, every parallel, every single corner of creation. This is my ultimate victory, Doctor! The destruction of reality itself!”

**: : : :**

**Elsewhere on the Dalek ship**

Jack rolls through a panel in the wall behind Sarah, Jackie and Mickey. “Just my luck. I climb through two miles of ventilation shafts, chasing life signs on this thing, and who do I find? Mickey Mouse.”

“You can talk, Captain Cheesecake,” Mickey teases back.

Mickey and Jack hug.

“Good to see you. And that's Beefcake.”

“And that's enough hugging.”

Jack turns to Sarah Jane. “We meet at last, Miss Smith.”

“There is something we can do,” Sarah Jane tells him. “You've got to understand. I have a son down there on Earth. He's only fourteen years old. I've brought this.” Sarah holds up a sparkling gem on a chain. “It was given to me by a Verron Soothsayer. He said, this is for the End of Days.”

“Is that a Warp Star?”

“Going to tell me what a Warp Star is?” Mickey asks.

“A warpfold conjugation trapped in a carbonised shell,” Jack explains. “It's an explosion, Mickey. An explosion waiting to happen.”

**: : : :**

**The Vault**

Violet plops down onto the ground and leans back against the force field that is her holding cell, groaning in irritation as she listens to Davros rant about destroying all of reality. The Doctor gives her a somewhat amused look before both of their attentions are drawn to the screen in the Vault, Martha Jones on it, threatening to thwart Davros’ plan by using the Osterhagen Key to blow up the planet.

“She's good,” Rose admits.

“Who's that?” Martha asks.

“My name's Rose. Rose Tyler.”

“Oh, my God. He found you.”

The Doctor and Rose share a look.

“Second transmission, internal,” a Dalek calls.

“Display,” the Red Dalek orders.

Jack appears on the screen and Violet jumps to her feet. “Captain Jack Harkness, calling all Dalek boys and girls.” He holds up the Warp Star, but there are now wires attached to it. “Are you receiving me? Don't send in your goons, or I'll set this thing off.”

“He's still alive,” Rose exclaims. “Oh, my god. That, that's my mum.”

“And Mickey,” the Doctor says with shock. “Captain, what are you doing?”

“I've got a Warp Star wired into the mainframe. I break this shell, the entire Crucible goes up.”

“You can't! Where did you get a Warp Star?”

“From me,” Sarah Jane says, appearing on the screen. “We had no choice. We saw what happened to the prisoners.”

“Impossible,” Davros says. “That face. After all these years.”

“Davros. It's been quite a while. Sarah Jane Smith. Remember?”

“Oh, this is meant to be. The circle of Time is closing. You were there on Skaro at the very beginning of my creation.”

“And I've learnt how to fight since then. You let the Doctor go, or this Warp Star, it gets opened.”

“I'll do it,” Jack warns. “Don't imagine I wouldn't.”

Violet cackles maniacally, drawing eyes to her as she tilts her head to the side and grins. “Oh, he will do it. It’s been a while since I’ve witnesses a Warp Star explosion, and it’s so very pretty.”

“Now that's what I call a ransom,” Rose marvels. “Doctor?” 

“And the prophecy unfolds,” Davros says happily.

“The Doctor's soul is revealed,” Dalek Caan giggles. “See him. See the heart of him.”

“The man who abhors violence, never carrying a gun. But this is the truth, Doctor. You take ordinary people and you fashion them into weapons. Behold your Children of Time, transformed into murderers. I made the Daleks, Doctor. You made this.”

“They're trying to help,” the Doctor protests.

“Already I have seen them sacrifice today, for their beloved Doctor. The Earth woman who fell opening the Subwave Network.”

“Who was that?”

“Harriet Jones,” Rose says. “She gave her life to get you here.”

“How many more? Just think. How many have died in your name?”

Violet laughs with a wide grin for a second slamming her fists against the force field, her expression drastically changing to one of pure, murderous rage. Her voice comes out dead calm, and it makes everyone shiver. “You don’t have any right to even speak of those we’ve lost, even if you don’t mention names.”

“The Doctor,” Davros continues, almost gleefully. “The man who keeps running, never looking back because he dare not, out of shame. This is my final victory, Doctor. I have shown you yourself.”

“Shut the fuck up before I tear you limb from limb, you piece of fucking scum.”


	49. 𝟘𝟜𝟝 ▹ 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪'𝕤 𝔼𝕟𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

“Transmat engaged,” a Dalek informs.

“No!” Martha exclaims. She drops the key as the transmat snatches her away.

Jack drops the Warp Star as he and his group also vanish, but he catches Martha in its place. “I’ve got you. It’s all right.”

“Don’t move, all of you. Stay still.” The Doctor’s hand touches the forcefield around him, lighting it up.

“Guard them!” Davros barks. “On your knees, all of you. Surrender!”

“Do as he says.”

“Mum, I told you not to,” Rose berates her mother.

Jackie kneels. “Yeah, but I couldn’t leave you.”

“The final prophecy is in place,” Davros infroms. “The Doctor and his children, all gathered as witnesses. Supreme Dalek, the time has come. Now, detonate the Reality bomb!”

An iris in the planetoid cum spaceship opens to reveal the green bomb.

“Activate planetary alignment field,” the Red Dalek informs.

The planets glow.

“Universal Reality detonation in two hundred rels.”

“You can’t, Davros!” the Doctor pleads. “Just listen to me! Just stop!”

“Ah, ha, ha, ha!” Davros cackles. “Nothing can stop the detonation. Nothing and no one!”

However, just as the being says that, a familiar sound fills the air. Violet’s boiling rage becomes replaced with shock as she and Jack share a look, hope glimmering in both their eyes.

The Doctor is in as much shock as them. “But that’s…”

“Impossible,” Davros finishes.

The TARDIS materialises and another Doctor appears in the doorway with a gizmo in his hands, startling everyone.

“Brilliant,” Jack says with a wide grin.

Then the new Doctor runs across the floor.

“Don’t!” the original Time Lord yells, but too late.

Davros zaps the new Doctor and he drops the gizmo in pain.

“Activate holding cell,” Davros orders.

Donna runs out of the TARDIS and grabs the gizmo.

“Doctor!” the redhead yells. “I’ve got it. But I don’t know what to do!

Davros zaps Donna, sending her flying backwards. Once again the gizmo drops to the floor.

“Donna! Donna!” one of the Doctor’s exclaims, but Violet isn’t looking so she can’t tell which it was. “Are you alright, Donna?”

“Destroy the weapon,” Davros orders, a Dalek obeying instantly. “I was wrong about your warriors, Doctor. They are pathetic.”

“How comes there are two of you?” Rose asks.

“Human biological metacrisis,” the new Doctor informs. “Never mind that. Now we’ve got no way of stopping the Reality Bomb.”

“Stand witness, Time Lord. Stand witness, Humans,” Davros cheers. “Your strategies have failed, your weapons are useless, and. Oh. The end of the universe has come.”

Violet laughs. “I’m not Human or a Time Lord.”

The Red Dalek counts down. “Nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one.”

An alarm sounds.

“Mmm, closing all Z-neutrino relay loops using an internalised synchronous back-feed reversal loop. That button there.” Donna presses a button on the panel she was thrown against.

“Donna, you can’t even change a plug,” the original Doctor exclaims.

“Do you want to bet, Time Boy?” Donna laughs.

“You’ll suffer for this,” Davros threatens.

Donna lifts a lever and Davros’ electrical zap travels up his arm.

“Argh!”

“Oh, bio-electric dampening field with a retrograde field arc inversion.”

“Exterminate her!”

Donna works more controls on the panel, disarming the Daleks easily. “Phwor. Macrotransmission of a K-filter wavelength blocking Dalek weaponry in a self-replicating energy blindfold matrix.”

“How did you work that out?” the original Doctor asks, confused. “You’re…”

“Time Lord,” the new Doctor informs. “Part Time Lord.”

“Part human. Oh, yes,” Donna cheers. “That was a two-way biological metacrisis. Half Doctor, half Donna.”

“The Doctor Donna,” Violet yells. “Just like the Ood said, remember?”

The original Doctor grins. “They saw it coming. The Doctor Donna.”

“Holding cells deactivated. And seal the Vault,” Donna calls, hitting more buttons. “Well, don’t just stand there, you skinny boys in suits. Get to work.”

“Stop them!” Davros orders as the two Doctors and Violet run over to the controls. “Get them away from the controls.”

“And spin.” Donna flips a switch and the Daleks spin around on the spot. “And the other way.”

“What did you do?” the new Doctor asks.

“Trip switch circuit-breaker in the psychokinetic threshold manipulator.”

“But that’s brilliant!”

“Why did we never think of that?” the original Doctor asks his duplicate.

“Because you two were just Time Lords, you dumbos,” Violet laughs. “Lacking that little bit of human.”

“That gut instinct that comes hand in hand with Planet Earth,” Donna agrees. “I can think of ideas you two couldn’t dream of in a million years. Ah, the universe has been waiting for me. Now, let’s send that trip switch all over the ship. Did I ever tell you, best temp in Chiswick? Hundred words per minute.”

“Ha!” the new Doctor exclaims.

Jack runs into the TARDIS and returns with the honking big guns he and Rose left in there as Donna orders the two Doctors to activate the magnetron to send the twenty-seven planets home. He throws one to Mickey, and the dark-skinned male points his gun at Davros, point blank range, ordering the progenitor of this set of Daleks to remain where he is.

“Out of the way.” Jack pushes a spinning Dalek down a corridor, while Sarah and Rose manhandle another one.

Violet rushes away from the controls and kicks another spinning Dalek down another corridor. “Au revoir, you bastard!”

“Good to see you again,” Sarah Jane says with a smile.

“Oh, you too,” Rose replies.

“Ready?” Donna asks. “And reverse.”

Donna and the Doctors pull out pairs of rods, and the planets disappear one by one.

“Off you go, Clom,” the original Doctor says.

“Back home, Adipose Three,” the new Doctor decrees.

“Shallacatop, Pyrovillia and the Lost Moon of Poosh,” Donna lists. “Sorted. Ha!”

“Ha!”

“We need more power!”

“Is anyone going to tell us what’s going on?” Rose asks, completely shocked.

“He poured all his Regeneration energy into his spare hand. I touched the hand, and he grew out of that but that fed back into me,” Donna rambles, explaining everything. “But, it just stayed dormant in my head ’til the synapses got that little extra spark, kicking them into life. Thank you, Davros! Part human, part Time Lord. And I got the best bit of the Doctor. I got his mind.”

“So there’s three of you?” Sarah Jane asks in amazement.

“Three Doctors?” Rose muses.

Jack looks down and stumbles over his words for a second. “I can’t tell you what I’m thinking right now.”

“Oh, but I can tell what you’re thinking.” Violet smirks and wraps her arms around Jack. “Considering I’m here, doesn’t that really make four Doctors?”

She doesn't miss Jack's shudder.

“You’re so unique the timelines were converging on you,” the original Doctor says. “Human being with a Time Lord brain.”

“But you promised me, Dalek Caan,” Davros snarls. “Why did you not foresee this?”

“Oh, I think he did,” the original Doctor says. “Something’s been manipulating the timelines for ages, getting Donna Noble to the right place at the right time.

“This would always have happened,” Dalek Caan explains. “I only helped, Doctor.”

“You betrayed the Daleks,” Davros yells.

“I saw the Daleks. What we have done, throughout time and space, I saw the truth of us, Creator, and I decreed, no more!”


	50. 𝟘𝟜𝟞 ▹ 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪'𝕤 𝔼𝕟𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟜)

"Heads up," Jack warns, raising his gun.

"Davros, you have betrayed us," the Red Dalek says.

"It was Dalek Caan," Davros protests.

"The Vault will be purged. You will all be exterminated." The Red Dalek zaps the control panel.

"Like I was saying, feel this!" Jack fires an extended pulse from his big gun and the Red Dalek explodes.

"Oh, we've lost the magnetron, and there's only one planet left," the original Doctor says. "Oh, guess which one. But we can use the TARDIS." The Doctor runs into the TARDIS.

"Holding Earth stability," the new Doctor informs. "Maintaining atmospheric shell."

"The prophecy must complete," Dalek Caan reminds them.

"Don't listen to him," Davros orders.

"I have seen the end of everything Dalek, and you must make it happen, Doctor."

"He's right," the new Doctor says. "Because with or without a Reality bomb, this Dalek Empire's big enough to slaughter the cosmos. They've got to be stopped."

"Just, just wait for the Doctor," Donna says.

"I am the Doctor. Maximising Dalekanium power feeds. Blasting them back!"

Daleks start exploding all over the Crucible and all over the Medusa Cascade.

The original Doctor runs out of the TARDIS. "What have you done?"

"Fulfilling the prophecy," the new Doctor informs.

"Do you know what you've done? Now get in the TARDIS! Everyone! All of you, inside! Run!"

The original Doctor stands inside the TARDIS doors while the new Doctor stands outside the TARDIS doors, both ordering the companions inside.

The original Doctor is repeating himself. "In! In! In! In!"

The new Doctor is listing them off. "Sarah Jane! Rose! Jackie! Jack! Violet! Mickey! Martha!"

Explosions are starting to wreck the Vault, and that makes the original Doctor turn back to face Davros. "Davros? Come with me. I promise I can save you."

"Never forget, Doctor, you did this. I name you. Forever, you are the Destroyer of the Worlds!" A wall of flames leaps up and Davros gurgles his last scream.

"One will still die." Dalek Caan's warning goes unheard.

Inside the TARDIS, everyone is standing about until the original Doctor runs up to the console and begins flipping switches and pressing buttons. The TARDIS dematerialises just before the Crucible blows up.

"But what about the Earth?" Sarah Jane demands. "It's stuck in the wrong part of space."

"I'm on it," the original Doctor replies. " _Torchwood_ Hub, this is the Doctor. Are you receiving me?"

Gwen appears on the scanner. "Loud and clear. Is Jack there?"

"Can't get rid of him. Jack, what's her name?"

"Gwen Cooper," Jack replies.

"Tell me, Gwen Cooper, are you from an old Cardiff family?"

"Yes, all the way back to the eighteen hundreds," the dark-haired woman replies.

"Ah, thought so," the Doctor says. "Spatial genetic multiplicity."

"Oh, yeah," Rose says, remembering the time they met Charles Dickens.

"Yeah, it's a funny old world. Now,  _Torchwood_ , I want you to open up that Rift Manipulator. Send all the power to me."

"Doing it now, sir," Ianto declares.

"Ianto," Violet exclaims, looking on the scanner and seeing the male. "Thank fuck you're still alive."

"Wouldn't dream of dying and leaving Gwen to deal with Jack, ma'am."

"You know you love me," Jack taunts his lover. "Violet wouldn't let someone she loves die."

"Of course not, sir."

Violet laughs.

"You three can continue your flirting later," the original Doctor says. "Calling Luke and Mister Smith. This is the Doctor. Come on, Luke. Shake a leg."

Luke appears on the scanner. "Is mum there?"

"Oh, she's fine and dandy."

Sarah Jane celebrates. "Yes! Yes!"

"Now, Mister Smith, I want you to harness the Rift power and loop it around the TARDIS. You got that?"

"I regret I will need remote access to TARDIS base code numerals," Mr Smith informs.

"Oh, blimey, that's going to take a while."

"No, no, no. Let me," Sarah Jane says. "K9, out you come!"

K9 beams in beside Luke. "Affirmative, Mistress."

"Oh! Oh ho! Oh, good dog!" the original Doctor cheers. "K9, give Mister Smith the base code."

"Affirmative, Master. TARDIS base code now being transferred. The process is simple."

"Now then, you lot," the original Doctor says, hurrying around the console. "Sarah, hold that down. Mickey, you hold that. Because you know why this TARDIS always is always rattling about the place? Rose? That, there. It's designed to have six pilots, and I have to do it single handed. Martha, keep that level. But not any more. Jack, there you go. Steady that. Now we can fly this thing. No, Jackie. No, no. Not you. Don't touch anything. Just stand back. Like it's meant to be flown. We've got the  _Torchwood_ Rift looped around the TARDIS by Mister Smith, and we're going to fly Planet Earth back home. Right then. Off we go."

The TARDIS takes the strain on the tow rope, then pulls Earth out of the Cascade. Everyone on Earth hangs on for the ride. Jackie shakes her head and leans against the railing, watching nearly everyone on board fly the blue box. The new Doctor walks over to Violet and stands beside her, hugging her with one arm while the other holds onto the railing just in case someone messes something up and they go flying.

Donna walks around the console, supervising the flight. "That's really good, Jack," Donna flirts, despite having her shocked boyfriend not too far from her. "I think you're the best."

Violet playfully whacks Donna as the TARDIS drops the Earth off by the Moon and everyone celebrates. However, before the half Time Lord can stop her, Donna pulls Jack off Sarah and hugs him herself. She doesn't let that stand for long, pulling Jack away from Donna and holding him protectively, making the time traveller laugh but hug his lover back. They park the TARDIS in a park once again, and the air is filled with church bells ringing a celebratory change. One by one they all exit the TARDIS except for Donna, Rose, Jackie, Mickey and the new Doctor.

"You know, you act like such a lonely man," Sarah Jane says. "But look at you. You've got the biggest family on Earth." She hugs the Doctor. "Oh! Got to go. He's only fourteen. It's a long story. And thank you!"

Back on the TARDIS, Donna is phoning home. "Yeah, I'm fine. Are you all right?"

"I'm going to miss you more than anyone," Mickey says.

"What do you mean?" Jackie demands. "The Doctor's going to take us home, isn't he?"

"Well, that's the point."

Out in the park, the Doctor unmends Jack's teleport bracelet. "I told you, no teleport. And, Martha, get rid of that Osterhagen thing, eh? Save the world one more time."

Violet sneakily fixes Jack's Vortex Manipulator.

"Consider it done," Martha says.

They both salute the Doctor, and he returns it. Violet, Jack and Martha walk away, but the latter two know that Violet won't be staying on Earth with them.

"You know, I'm not sure about UNIT these days," Jack says. "Maybe there's something else you could be doing?"

Before they get too far away from the TARDIS, Violet takes Jack's hand and turns him until he's facing her. Without a moment's hesitation, she throws her arms around his neck and kisses him fiercely, not knowing how long it's going to be until she sees her first love again. He reciprocates, his arms going around her waist and holding her firmly to his body, not entirely sure if he wants to let her go.

However, they part and Violet simply hugs him this time, fighting tears as she clutches at Jack's jacket. "I don't want this to be goodbye, Jack. I don't want this to be the end."

"Stop it now." Jack tries to sound teasing, but his voice comes out crackly. "Don't go saying that we're not going to see each other again. You, Ianto and I both know that's not true."

"Jack, the future can change."

"Stop being so fucking pessimistic." Jack pulls away from Violet and lowers her to the ground. "You're not usually like this, so I don't really know what to say to make you feel better - except that we'll see each other again."

Violet smiles through her tears and notices that Jack's baby blue eyes are beginning to fills with tears of his own. "Don't miss me too much. Also, give something to Ianto for me."

"What?"

She kisses him again, and it's got the same passion and burn behind it as the one she gave Jack. "Give him that, and tell him to keep an eye on you."

"Oh, also." He pulls a familiar blue book from his pocket. "I knew you were going to forget this."

She takes River's journal from Jack and puts it in her back pocket. "Thank you."

"Oi, where are you going?" Violet hears the Doctor exclaim, and she knows that her time with her goodbyes is coming to a quick close.

Mickey gives him some explanation, but all she can hear is his final words. "Hey, you two!"

Mickey catches up with Jack and Martha.

"Oh. Thought I'd got rid of you," Jack teasingly complains.

The three of them walk away, not one of them turning back, and Violet's throat tightens as her tears continue to flow. Swallowing, she forces herself to turn her own back and walk back to the TARDIS; back to her Doctor and the rest of her friends aboard. Her husband hugs her and kisses the top of her head as they walk inside the blue box, shutting the door behind them.


	51. 𝟘𝟜𝟟 ▹ 𝕁𝕠𝕦𝕣𝕟𝕖𝕪'𝕤 𝔼𝕟𝕕 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟝)

“Just time for one last trip,” the Doctor says. “Dårlig Ulv Stranden. Better known as…”

The TARDIS materialises on the beach of Bad Wolf Bay and everyone can feel the tension in the air. The New Doctor and Jackie are first out.

“Oh, fat lot of good this is,” Jackie complains. “Back of beyond. Bloody Norway? I'm going to have to phone your father. He's on the nursery run. I was pregnant, do you remember? Had a baby boy.”

“Oh, brilliant,” the new Doctor says with a grin. “What did you call him? 

“Doctor.”

He’s shocked. “Really?”

“No, you plum. He's called Tony.”

“Hold on,” Rose says. “This is the parallel universe, right?”

“You're back home,” the Doctor agrees.

“And the walls of the world are closing again, now that the Reality Bomb never happened. It's dimensional retroclosure,” Donna adds. “See, I really get that stuff now.”

“No, but I spent all that time trying to find you,” Rose protests, turning to face the man she’s loved for what feels like years. “I'm not going back now.”

“But you've got to. Because we saved the universe, but at a cost. And the cost is him.” The original Doctor looks over to the new Doctor. “He destroyed the Daleks. He committed genocide. He's too dangerous to be left on his own.”

“You made me,” the new Doctor says.

“Exactly. You were born in battle, full of blood and anger and revenge. Remind you of someone? That's me, when we first met. And you made me better. Now you can do the same for him.”

“But he's not you,” Rose whispers.

“He needs you. That's very me.”

“But it's better than that, though. Don't you see what he's trying to give you?” Donna asks. “Tell her. Go on.”

“I look like him and I think like him. Same memories, same thoughts, same everything,” the new Doctor informs. “Except I've only got one heart.”

“Which means?” Rose asks.

“I'm part human. Specifically, the ageing part. I'll grow old and never Regenerate. I've only got one life, Rose Tyler. I could spend it with you, if you want.”

“You'll grow old at the same time as me?”

“Together.”

The TARDIS time motor revs and Violet briefly closes her eyes.

“We've got to go,” the original Doctor says. “This reality is sealing itself off forever.”

“But, it's still not right,” Rose continues to protest. “Because the Doctor's still you.”

“And I'm him.”

“All right. Both of you, answer me this. When I last stood on this beach, on the worst day of my life, what was the last thing you said to me? Go on, say it.”

“I said, Rose Tyler.”

“Yeah, and how was that sentence going to end?”

“Does it need saying?”

She turns to the new Doctor. “And you, Doctor? What was the end of that sentence?”

The new Doctor whispers the three little words in Rose's ear, and she kisses him. The original Doctor, Violet and Donna take the opportunity to get into the TARDIS. It dematerialises, leaving a crying Rose on the beach with her Doctor and her mother. Violet closes her eyes and lets out a shuddering breath before turning and facing the music with what is about to happen.

“I thought we could try the planet Felspoon,” Donna suggests. “Just because. What a good name, Felspoon. Apparently, it's got mountains that sway in the breeze. Mountains that move. Can you imagine?”

“And how do you know that?” the Doctor asks, his expression blank.

“Because it's in your head. And if it's in your head, it's in mine.”

“And how does that feel?”

“Brilliant! Fantastic! Molto bene! Great big universe, packed into my brain. You know you could fix that chameleon circuit if you just tried hot binding the fragment links and superseding the binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary, binary.” She gasps. “I'm fine. Nah, never mind Felspoon. You know who I'd like to meet? Charlie Chaplin. I bet he's great, Charlie Chaplin. Shall we do that? Shall we go and see Charlie Chaplin? Shall we? Charlie Chaplin? Charlie Chester. Charlie Brown. No, he's fiction. Friction, fiction, fixing, mixing, Rickston, Brixton.” This time it hurts, and she stumbles into the console. “Oh, my God.”

Violet bites the inside of her lip, forcing herself to not cry again today. Out the corner of her eye, she sees Lee make his way over to the love of his life and hold her hand.

“Do you know what's happening?” the Doctor asks.

“Yeah,” Donna replies sadly.

“There's never been a human Time Lord metacrisis before now. And you know why.”

“Because there can't be. I want to stay.”

He walks over to her. “Look at me. Donna, look at me.”

“I was going to be with you forever.” She looks at him with such sadness.

“I know.”

“The rest of my life, travelling in the TARDIS. The Doctor Donna. No. Oh my god. I can't go back. Don't make me go back. Doctor, please, please don't make me go back.”

“Donna. Oh, Donna Noble. I am so sorry. But we had the best of times.”

“No.”

“The best. Goodbye.”

“No, no, no. Please. Please. No. No.”

Donna is crying when he Doctor mind melds with her and takes her memories away.

“No!”

Donna passes out, Lee now on the floor of the TARDIS, holding the redheaded woman with such love. Violet hesitantly walks over and kneels down beside the two while the Doctor flies them to the Nobles’ home. She places her fingertips on the woman’s temples, making Lee look at her, wanting to say something but deciding against it until he knows what’s really going on.

“I won’t restore her memories,” Violet says, her voice showing how weak and emotional she is right now. “However, I can give her memories of you - false ones of course. If I do that, I will have to give you a false life - memories included - so you don’t accidentally trigger something that might bring her memories crashing back.”

“D-Do it,” Lee stutters. “I l-l-l-love her.”

Violet nods and gives Lee a thin smile, closing her eyes and fabricating memories inside Donna’s mind of how she and Lee met, and all the dates they went on, and her dreams of having a family with children with the man. Placing them in the redhead’s mind, Violet briefly opens her eyes to remove her hands from Donna’s head and place them on Lee’s. Closing her eyes, she fabricates an entire life for Lee in this century and locks away his memories of the 51st Century and The Library.

Removing her hands, she opens her eyes and stares sadly at the passed out couple on the floor of the TARDIS, a hand coming to rest on her shoulder. Violet sighs and stands, knowing that they have to get the two out of the blue box before they wake up. It’s a struggle, but they manage to get them both to the door of the Nobles’ home, Violet struggling under the weight of Lee, but managing to knock anyway.

Wilf opens the door. “Donna?” He sees the TARDIS parked across the road and the Doctor is kneeling by the door, holding the unconscious Donna, and Violet not too far behind them, holding the unconscious Lee.

“Help me,” the Doctor pleads.

“Donna? Donna?”

They lay Donna on her bed with Lee beside her, then go downstairs, a thunderstorm rolling overhead. In the sitting room, the Doctor explains to Wilf and Sylvia exactly what happened to their Donna. Violet stands quietly by the window, staring out at the rain coming down as Sylvia and Wilf take in everything. She wonders where Martha and Mickey are, and whether Jack made it back to Ianto and Gwen, and gave Ianto what she told Jack to give him - or maybe even something more.

“I just want you to know there are worlds out there, safe in the sky because of her,” the Doctor tells them. “That there are people living in the light, and singing songs of Donna Noble, a thousand million light years away. They will never forget her, while she can never remember. And for one moment, one shining moment, she was the most important woman in the whole wide universe.”

“She still is,” Sylvia retorts. “She's my daughter.”

“Then maybe you should tell her that once in a while.”

Donna comes down the stairs with Lee a few steps behind her. “We were asleep on our bed in our clothes, like flipping kids! What do you let us do that for? Don't mind me. Donna.” Donna checks her mobile.

“John Smith,” the Doctor says. “This is my wife, Alyssa.”

“Mister Smith and his  _ wife  _ were just leaving,” Sylvia grinds out.

“I am his wife,” Violet hisses angrily at the woman, not in the mood for any bullshit.

“N-N-Nice to meet y-y-you,” Lee greets with a smile.

“My phone's gone mad. Thirty two texts,” Donna complains. “Veena's gone barmy. She's saying planets in the sky. What have I missed now? Nice to meet you.” Donna leaves the room.

“As I said,” Sylvia says. “I think you should go.”

The Doctor and Violet walk into the kitchen to say goodbye, but Donna is on the phone.

“How thick do you think I am? Planets,” Donna scoffs. “Tell you what that was, dumbo. That's those two for one lagers you gets down the offy because you fancy that little man in there with the goatee. Ha ha! Yes, you do. I've seen you.”

“Donna?” the Doctor calls. “We were just going.”

She turns and looks at them, not a glimmer of recognition in her brown eyes. “Yeah, see you. I tell you what though, you're wasting your time with that one, because Susie Mair, she went on that dating site, and she saw him. No, no, no, no. Listen, listen, this is important. Susie Mair wouldn't lie. Not unless it was about calories. Ha ha ha!”

Outside the Nobles' home a few moments later, Wilf and the Doctor are standing under what little cover there is while Violet couldn’t care less, standing out in the middle of the street, rain pouring from the sky. It washes away her tears and soaks her to the bone, making her think of the planet that’s all water and somehow still floating in space.

“Ah. You'll have quite a bit of this,” the Doctor says. “Atmospheric disturbance. Still, it'll pass. Everything does. Bye then, Wilfred.”

“Oh, Doctor? What about you now?” Wilf asks. “Who've you two got? I mean, all those friends of yours.”

“They've all got someone else. Still, that's fine. I'm fine. I’ve got Violet, and she’s got me.”

“I'll watch out for you, sir.”

“You can't ever tell her.”

“No, no, no. But every night, Doctor, when it gets dark, and the stars come out, I'll look up on her behalf. I'll look up at the sky, and think of you both.”

“Thank you.”

Soaked to the skin, the Doctor squelches to the TARDIS, Violet half a step behind him. They walk inside and instantly begin their flight. Wilf salutes as it dematerialises.


	52. 𝟘𝟜𝟠 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟙)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all.
> 
> We're in the endgame now with only nine chapters (including this one) to go, and then we're on to the second book.
> 
> Bear with me! Some of the chapters are going to be a little long, and the final chapter is probably going to make you tear up and/or cry.
> 
> \- Chey xo -

The TARDIS materialises in the snowy landscape, and the Doctor steps out wearing a suit, a brown trenchcoat, a stetson and a lei, with a pair of blue Converse and sunglasses. Violet laughs and hops out after him, her usually blonde hair a wild array of colours starting with a dark red and ending with a vibrant purple, but not a streak of green in sight. She’s wearing a pair of skinny jeans and a baggy white hoodie and black Converse, purple glasses perched on her nose.

Ood Sigma is waiting for them, and he doesn’t look too impressed.

“Ah! Now, sorry. There you are,” the Doctor says. “So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood in the snow, calling to me. Well, I didn't exactly come straight here. Had a bit of fun, you know. Travelled about, did this and that. Got into trouble. You know me. It was brilliant. I saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt, saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw, named a galaxy Alison. Got married, again. That was a mistake.”

Violet laughs. “Should have just stuck with me, Doc.”

“Good Queen Bess. And let me tell you, her nickname is no longer… Ahem. Anyway, what do you want?”

“You should not have delayed,” Ood Sigma informs.

“The last time we were here you said my song would be ending soon, and I'm in no hurry for that.”

“You will come with me.”

“Hold on. Better lock the TARDIS.” The Doctor points a remote key at the TARDIS. The door locks and the light flashes at it beeps. “See? Like a car. I locked it like a car. Like. It's funny. No? Little bit? Blimey, try to make an Ood laugh.”

Violet sighs and covers her eyes, dragging her fingers down her face and shaking her head.

“So how old are you now, Ood Sigma? Ah.” He sees the Ood city and changes topics. “Magnificent. Oh, come on, that is splendid. You've achieved all this in how long?”

“One hundred years,” Ood Sigma informs.

The Doctor takes off his sunglasses. “Then we've got a problem. Because all of this is way too fast. Not just the city, I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way back to the 21st Century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal.”

“And the Mind of the Ood is troubled.”

“Why, what's happened?”

“Every night, Doctor, every night we have bad dreams.”

**: : : :**

The Ood Council are sitting in a circle in an ice cave when Ood Sigma leads Violet and the Doctor to them.

“Returning, returning, returning, it is slowly returning through the dark and the fire and the blood,” an Elder says. “Always returning, returning to this world. It is returning, and he is returning, and they are returning, but too late. Too late. Far too late. He has come.”

“Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming,” Ood Sigma tells them.

Violet instantly sits, the Doctor taking a second longer to do so. “So. Right. Hallo.”

The Ood repeat the same phrase over and over. “You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join. You will join.”

The Doctor and Violet link hands with the Ood and see the laughing face of the Master. His laughter echoes in their minds and she flinches, fighting the urge to release the Ood’s hand, and gripping the Doctor’s hand tighter.

“He comes to us every night,” the Elder informs. “I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now.”

“That man is dead,” the Doctor says in a flat voice.

“There is yet more. Join us. Events are taking shape. So many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man.” The laughter sounds again, but this time it is accompanied by the image of the Nobles' home. “So scared.”

“Wilfred,” Violet muses.

“Is he all right?” the Doctor demands. “What about Donna, is she safe?”

“You should not have delayed, for the lines of convergence are being drawn across the Earth,” the Ood Elder berates. “Even now, the king is in his Counting house.” The Doctor and Violet are given images of a black man and his daughter being photographed by the Elder.

“I don't know who they are,” the Doctor says. “And neither does my wife.”

“And there is another. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten.” The Ood Elder shows them a woman in a cage.

“The Master's wife.”

“We see so much, but understand little,” Ood Sigma admits. “The woman in the cage, who is she?”

“She was… It wasn't her fault, she was…” The Doctor trails off and decides to try again. “The Master, he's a Time Lord, like me, and like Violet. I can show you.” The Doctor shows the Ood images from the Year That Never Was. “The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy, and he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth. I reversed everything he'd done so it never even happened, but Lucy Saxon remembered.”

“I shot him,” Violet murmurs, showing them his death at her hands. “Lucy was taken into custody for the crime I prevented her from making.”

“I held him in my arms. I burnt his body. The Master is dead.”

“And yet, you did not see,” the Ood Elder muses.

“What's that?”

The Master’s crazed laugh sounds again, this time accompanied with the image of a woman picking up the Master's signet ring.

“Part of him survived,” the Doctor exclaims, jumping up, his hand still holding Violet’s and dragging her up as well. “I have to go!”

“But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark,” the Ood Elder warns. “The Ood have gained this power to see through time, because time is bleeding. Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil, and these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future, and the present, and the past.”

“What do you mean?” Violet dares ask.

“This is what we have seen, Doctor and Violet. The darkness heralds only one thing.”

“The end of time itself,” the rest of the Ood say.

The Doctor and Violet run outside and back to the TARDIS.


	53. 𝟘𝟜𝟡 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟚)

A little later, the Doctor and Violet stand on a small cliff, the former sniffing deeply and the former trying to understand the painful cry that has arisen in her mind. The sound of hitting an oil drum in a rhythm of four beats and a rest startles Violet, who hears it first, and then the Doctor hears it.

He runs through piles of girders on the dockside, his wife half a step behind him, until they see the Master up against the skyline. The Master does his Incredible Hulk impression then leaps into the air, the Doctor and Violet giving chase. The Master waits for them on a pile of girders, and his skeleton briefly flashes.

“Please, let me help,” the Doctor pleads. “You're burning up your own life force.”

They run again, then Wilfred appears in the Doctor's way. “Oh, my gosh, Doctor. You're a sight for sore eyes.”

“Out of my way,” the Doctor snaps, but stops when he realises that the Master is nowhere to be seen.

Violet hisses breath out through her clenched teeth and she begins to feel crowded, surrounded by unknown people - obvious friends of Wilfred. Their voices turn into a cacophony of indiscernible pitches and Violet closes her eyes, trying to block out the cheerful voices that make her mind spin. Having to find the formerly dead Master is already taking its toll on her already weakened body.

“Wilfred?” the Doctor asks, his tone saying that the older man may be in some trouble.

“Yeah?” Wilfred asks.

“Have you told them who I am? Who  _we_ are? You promised me.”

“No, I just said you were a doctor and that she’s your wife, that's all. And might I say, sir, it is an honour to see you again.” Wilf salutes.

Violet groans in annoyance as the people decide that they want a photo with her husband, giving Wilfred a disgusted and disbelieving look. Her irritation grows as they have trouble with the camera, and it morphs into something animalistic as one of the women, Minnie, gives the Doctor's bottom a squeeze. She almost rips the old lady off  _her_ Doctor at that, but it’s only a few seconds later that the photo is taken and everyone is shuffling onto a minibus.

Violet reluctantly climbs onto the minibus, her blue-grey eyes scanning the elderly people on it, clutching the Doctor’s hand tightly. The older Gallifreyan reciprocates the squeeze, but only briefly as his ancient eyes become muddled with confusion at the situation they’re both currently in. The minibus drops the Doctor, Violet and Wilfred off at a cafe a few minutes later, the former still swimming through his confusion.

“Come on, then. Here we are, hurry up. Bye. You behave, bye.” Wilfred stares after the minibus drives off. “Over here, come on.”

“What's so special about this place?” the Doctor asks. “We passed fifteen cafes on the way.”

“Yeah. Afternoon.”

When they’re seated, Violet has a steaming Chai Latte in her grasp, the hot air coming off it fogging up her glasses every few seconds. She huffs out in annoyance and takes her glasses off, folding them and sitting them on the table, sipping her coffee and watching as the steam slowly dries until she can see through them again.

“Oh, we had some good times, didn't we though? I mean, all those ATMOS things, and planets in the sky, and me with that paint gun,” Wilfred regales, but he turns serious after a moment. “I keep seeing things, Doctor. This face at night.”

“Who are you?” the Doctor asks, staring deep into Wilfred’s blue eyes.

“I'm Wilfred Mott.”

“No. People have waited hundreds of years to find me and then you manage it in a few hours.”

“Well, I'm just lucky I suppose.”

“No, we keep on meeting, Wilf. Over and over again like something's still connecting us.”

“What's so important about me?”

“Exactly. Why you? I'm going to die.”

“Well, so am I, one day.”

“Don't you dare.”

“All right, I'll try not to.”

“But I was told. He will knock four times. That was the prophecy. Knock four times, and then…”

Violet looks out the window and goes still, seeing someone she hasn’t seen for a while.

“Yeah, but I thought, when I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body.”

“I can still die. If I'm killed before Regeneration, then I'm dead. Even then, even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away, and I'm dead.” The Doctor stops and gives Wilfred a look. “What?”

Wilf has spotted Donna outside in the street getting out of her car. “I'm sorry, but I had to. Look, can't you make her better?”

“Stop it.”

“No, but you're so clever. Can't you bring her memory back? Look, just go to her now. Go on, just run across the street. Go up and say hello.”

“If she ever remembers me, her mind will burn, and she will die.”

They hear Donna speak to the traffic warden. “Don't you touch this car.”

“She's not changed,” Violet says.

“Nah,” Wilfred says with a smile. “Oh, there he is.”

Lee meets Donna in the street and Violet smiles, watching the two interact - one a stuttering mess and the other a somewhat headstrong control-freak.

“Lee McAvoy,” Wilfred says cheerily. “They're engaged. Getting married in the spring.”

“Another wedding,” the Doctor muses.

“Yeah.”

“Hold on, she's not going to be called Noble-McAvoy? That sounds like a bad joke.”

“No, it's McAvoy-Noble.”

“Right. Is she happy? Is he nice?”

“Yeah, he's sweet enough. He's a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he's on minimum wage, she's earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. And then sometimes I see this look on her face, like she's so sad, but she can't remember why.”

“She's got him.”

“She's making do.”

“Aren't we all?”

“Yeah, how about you? Who have you two got now?”

“No one. Travelling alone. We thought it was better, but I did some things. It went wrong. I need…” The Doctor starts crying and Violet takes his hand, knowing exactly what he means.

“Oh, my word. I'm sorry.”

“Merry Christmas.”

“Yeah, and you.”

“Look at us.”

“But don't you see? You know, you need her, Doctor. I mean, look. Wouldn't she make you laugh again? Good old Donna?”

Donna and Lee drive away.

“Eh?”


	54. 𝟘𝟝𝟘 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟛)

In an abandoned warehouse that night, the Doctor walks towards the Master, who fires bolts of energy at him from his hands. He misses, and sets fires burning behind the Doctor. The third try hits the Doctor squarely in the chest, stopping him moving forward. Finally the energy stops and the Doctor falls to his knees. The Master catches him, then lets him fall to the ground.

“I had estates,” the scruffy man muses. “Do you remember my father's land back home? Pastures of red grass, stretching far across the slopes of Mount Perdition. We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky. Look at us now.”

“All that eloquence,” the Doctor retorts. “But how many people have you killed?”

“I am so hungry.”

“Your resurrection went wrong. That energy… Your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself.”

“That Human Christmas out there. They eat so much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood, food. Pots, plates of meat, and flesh, and grease, and juice, and baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot. It's so hot.”

Violet recoils away from the revived Master, more terrified of him than she’s ever been before. Any other time she’s been around him, he’s been quite sane for a murderous psychopath, but how he is right now is petrifying her.

“Stop it,” the Doctor orders, noting his second wife’s discomfort.

The Master continues as if he didn’t hear his old friend. “Sliced. Sliced. Sliced.”

“Stop it.”

“It's mine. It's mine. It's mine to eat and eat and eat.”

“Stop it. What if I ask you for help? There's more at work tonight than you and me.”

“Oh yeah?”

“I've been told something is returning.”

“And here I am.”

“No, something more.”

“But it hurts.”

“I was told the end of time.”

“It hurts. Doctor, the noise. The noise in my head, Doctor. One, two, three, four. One, two, three, four. Stronger than ever before. Can't you hear it?”

“I'm sorry.”

“Listen, listen, listen, listen. Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is, calling to me. Please listen.”

Violet can hear the four beats being played out by an iron bar on an oil drum somewhere, but she knows that it is only the echo of the sound she heard earlier. However, the next second, the drumbeats from the Master’s mind fills hers, making her hiss a breath out through her teeth.

“I can't hear it,” the Doctor replies, sounding somewhat sad that he can’t.

“Listen.” The Master mind-melds with the Doctor.

The Doctor hears the beats and pulls away.

“What?”

“But…”

“What!”

“I heard it, but there's no noise. There never has been. It's just your insanity.” 

Violet laughs and it sounds borderline insane, startling the two Time Lords. “You might not be able to hear it, Doctor, but I can. It echoes in my head. When it’s not there, all I hear is this endless cry, and I feel this pull to be around him - around  _ you _ , Master. I wonder why that is.”

The Master tilts his head curiously and stares at the young half Gallifreyan with wonder. “You can hear the drums.”

“Yes, I have heard them since we met at the end of the universe.”

The Doctor looks between the two, and the more he does, the more he sees the similarities between his wife and his friend. It makes his stomach churn and his mind fly through multi-million possibilities, but he always comes back to the first possibility that pops into his head - that Violet is the Master’s daughter. Letting out a small sigh, he shifts and draws the attention of the two other members of his species.

“Vi, I have an idea as to why you can hear what’s inside the Master’s head,” the Doctor says hesitantly, two pairs of curious eyes boring into his. “I think you might be-”

“His daughter?” Violet interrupts with a sad smile. “Oh, how I wish that weren’t true.”

“You knew? For how long?”

“I didn’t know for a fact, but I had a feeling when he and I came back to this time; when we left you, Jack and Martha at the end of the universe. I just never asked, and he never told. It’s really the only thing that makes sense.”

The Master looks at Violet with curiosity, a smirk beginning to grow on his face. “I knew there was something I liked about you, and something familiar. The way you reacted when the drums grew louder had me thinking, but I didn’t want to say anything.”

The Doctor peers at his oldest friend. “What is it? What's inside your head? And why can she hear it?”

“It's real. It's real. It's real!” 

The Master flies off, startling Violet and the Doctor. They run after him and find him standing in a derelict field, surrounded by rubbish. At this confirmation of Violet being the Master’s daughter, all she can manage is a pleading look for the man she’s been searching for, but she knows that it will do her no good at this moment - or at any time really.

“All these years, you thought I was mad,” her newfound father crows. “King of the wasteland. But something is calling me, Doctor. What is it? What is it? What is it?”

A bright light shines down on the Master, then a second one illuminates the Doctor. A pair of SAS types come down on ropes, grab the Master and inject him with something to knock him out. Violet screeches and darts forward, somehow avoiding the raining bullets as others fire their guns at her and the Doctor to make them stay back, and the Master is hoisted up into the helicopter. The Doctor follows Violet’s example at that moment and runs forward.

“Let him go!” The Doctor is shot in the back.

**: : : :**

The Doctor parks the TARDIS outside the Nobles’ house, agony etched into his ancient face, and not just from the bullet wound. He and Violet leave the blue box, the latter resting against it as the former throws a rock or something against Wilfred’s window. The old man looks out a few seconds later to see the Doctor returning to Violet and his TARDIS, and it’s only a moment later that Wilfred is standing with them.

“I lost him. I was unconscious,” the Doctor informs. “He's still on Earth, I can smell him and Violet can sense him, but he's too far away.”

“Listen, you can't park there,” Wilfred says with worry. “What if Donna sees it?”

“You're the only one, Wilf. The only connection I can think of. You're involved, if I could work out how. Tell me, have you seen anything? I don't know. Anything strange, anything odd?”

“Well, there was a…”

“What? What is it? Tell me.”

“Well, it was… No, it's nothing.”

“Think-a think-a think. Maybe something out of the blue. Something connected to your life. Something.”

“Well, Donna was a bit strange. She had a funny little moment, this morning, all because of that book.”

“What book?”

“His name's Joshua Naismith.” Wilfred shows the book to the Doctor and Violet.

“That's the man,” Violet says monotonously. “We were shown him by the Ood.”

“By the what?”

“By the Ood,” the Doctor says.

“What's the Ood?” Wilfred asks, confused.

“They're just the Ood. But it's all part of the convergence. Maybe? It may be touching Donna's subconscious. Oh, she's still fighting for us, even now. The Doctor Donna.”

“Dad, what are you up to?” Sylvia asks, but her demeanour changes the moment she sees Violet and the Doctor. “You two. But… Get out of here.”

“Merry Christmas,” the Doctor says.

“Merry Christmas. But she can't see you. What if she remembers?”

“Mum, where are those tweezers?” Donna calls, her voice echoing in the early morning.

“Go,” Sylvia pleads.

“We’re going,” the Doctor says.

Violet turns on her heel and walks into the TARDIS, barely listening to the conversation. She’s too out of focus, too numb really, to have the attention span to focus on what’s happening, and she knows that it’s about time for another dose of her medicine, the time between each dose getting shorter each time. With a sigh, she pulls the injector from her jacket pocket and places it against her arm, pulling the trigger and letting out a breath of relief as the familiar icy sensation works its way through her body.

Stuffing it back into her pocket, Violet walks around the console as the Doctor and Wilfred enter, flipping switches and pressing buttons as she goes. The Doctor speeds up the metal stairs and does the same, leaving Wilfred to wander up to them at his own pace as the TARDIS dematerialises.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all.
> 
> So, contrary to what you might be thinking after reading this chapter, I did not plan for Violet to be the Master's daughter at all. I honestly didn't even really know what I was typing until I read through this chapter again.
> 
> \- Chey xo -


	55. 𝟘𝟝𝟙 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟜)

“Naismith. If I can track him down…” the Doctor trails off as he remembers that Wilfred hasn’t been inside the TARDIS before. “Ah. Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. Do you like it?”

“I thought it'd be cleaner,” Wilfred says, looking around.

“Cleaner?” The Doctor looks at his smiling wife with disbelief. “I could take you back home right now.”

“Listen, Doctor, if this is a time machine, that man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him?”

“I can’t go back inside my own timeline. I have to stay relative to the Master within the causal nexus. Understand?”

“Not a word.”

“Welcome aboard,” Violet says with a smile.

“Thank you,” the older man says, returning the smile.

**: : : :**

“We've moved,” Wilfred declares, turning around and looking at the scenery. “We've really moved!”

“You should stay here,” the Doctor suggests.

“Not bloody likely.”

“And don't swear. Hold on.” The Doctor points the key at the TARDIS, which disappears. “Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS. That's the last thing we need, no offence, honey.”

Violet merely shrugs and says nothing, beginning her walk to the building and leaving the two males to scramble after her. She, Wilfred and the Doctor have to hide from a patrol not even a minute after they set foot on the mansion grounds, and Violet kind of blames her companions for that, but she knows that her annoyance is misplaced right now.

“That book said he's a billionaire,” Wilfred says with disbelief. “He's got his own private army.”

“Down here.” 

The Doctor opens a small door in an archway and the three of them walk through, the Time Lord closing the door behind them. Taking the lead, Violet stalks down the corridor she has a feeling leads to the basement of the mansion. It’s not much longer until a female voice reaches the half-breed’s ears, and the smell of an alien species reaches her nose, making her walk faster until she enters the basement, the Doctor and Wilfred right behind her.

“The man's a miracle,” a Shimmer clad female Vinvocci informs their companion, her voice echoing down the corridor. “All the systems are slotting back into place. The shatterthreads have harmonised, the fibre links intensified and the multiple overshots have triplicated.” 

“Nice Gate,” the Doctor appreciates, startling the Vinvocci.

She stares at them in horror.

“Hello,” Wilfred says. “Sorry.”

“Don't try calling security, or I'll tell them you're wearing a Shimmer,” the Doctor warns. “Because I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed, or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place.”

“I'm sorry?” the female Vinvocci says, playing confused. “What's a Shimmer?”

The Doctor points his sonic screwdriver at her. “Shimmer.”

She turns green, the Shimmer vanishing and revealing her true Vinvocci form.

“Oh, my Lord,” Wilfred exclaims. “She's a cactus.”

“Miss Addams?” a male voice calls through a comm system, making Violet realise that they’re about to have company. “Miss Addams? If you'll just excuse me.”

**: : : :**

“He's got it working, but what is it?” Violet murmurs to herself, as well as the Doctor, as they reads the screens. “What's working?”

A man hurries down the stairs. “What are you doing here?”

Without turning around, the Doctor points the screwdriver at Rossiter. “Shimmer!”

He turns green, the Shimmer vanishing and revealing  _ his  _ true Vinvocci form.

“Now, tell me quickly, what's going on? The Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up there?”

It doesn’t take long for the male Vinvocci, under the guise of a man called Rossiter, to explain everything, his companion, the female Vinvocci going under the name of Dr Addams, assisting him in some instances. The way they interact reminds Violet of an old married couple, and that thought allows for a single, weak smile to appear on her face for barely a second.

“Who are you, though? 'Cause I met someone like you,” the Doctor says. “He was brilliant, but he was little and red.”

“No, that's a Zocci,” Addams says with something akin to disgust.

“We're not Zocci, we're-” Rossiter is cut off by Violet.

“Vinvocci,” the half Time Lord says, staring the two down. “Completely different, am I right?”

Addams nods. “And the Gate is Vinvocci. We're a salvage team. We picked up the signal when the humans reactivated it. And as soon as it's working, we can transport it to the ship.”

“But what does it do?” the Doctor asks, his curiosity growing.

“Well, it mends. It's a simple as that,” Rossiter informs. “It's a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better.”

“No, there's got to be more. Every single warning says the Master's going to do something colossal.”

“So that thing's like a sickbed, yes?” Wilfred asks, trying to understand some of what is going on.

“More or less,” Addams agrees.

“Well, pardon me for asking, but why is it so big?”

“Oh, good question,” the Time Lord exclaims. “Why's it so big?”

“It doesn't just mend one person at a time,” Addams says with a laugh.

“That would be ridiculous,” Rossiter agrees with a smile.

“It mends whole planets.”

“It does what?” Violet demands, her blue-grey eyes burning.

“It transmits the medical template across the entire population,” Addams informs.

The Doctor runs through the corridors, Violet in step with the lanky-legged Regeneration of the Time Lord. He yells for them to turn off the Gate, but all he gets in return are a bunch of guns pointed at him and Violet. She skids to a stop and looks her newfound father, trying to figure out what to do in this situation that doesn’t involve using violence, but she’s drawing blanks.

“No, no, no, no, no,” her husband exclaims. “Whatever you do, just don't let him near that device.”

“Oh, like that was ever going to happen.” The Master throws off the strait jacket and leaps over their heads on pillars of energy from his hands, into the Gate. “Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying? Well, look at me now.”

“Deactivate it. All of you, turn the whole thing off!”

The Master laughs and it seems to echo throughout everything, and come from everything. Violet stands stationary instead of flinching away like she usually does, and she knows it’s only because she knows the truth now. The Doctor runs towards his old friend, but the Master's blast of energy knocks the Doctor down.

“Doctor!” Wilfred exclaims, running in. “Doctor, there's, there's this face.”

“What is it?” the Doctor asks just as Violet demands, “What can you see?”

“Well, it's him. I can see him.”

Violet watches the TV in horror as the President of the United States holds his face in his hands. The Doctor goes to the computer and tries to shut down the Gate.

“I can't turn it off,” the Doctor growls.

“That's because I locked it, idiot,” the Master teases.

“Wilfred! Get inside. Get him out.” The Doctor enters one of a pair of glass sided cubicles, and Wilfred swaps places with a technician in the other. “Just need to filter the levels.”

“Oh, I can see again!” Wilfred complains, but he soon changes his tune. “He's gone.”

“Radiation shielding. Now press the button. Let me out.”

“You what?”

“I can't get out until you press the button. That button there.”

Wilfred does just that, making his cubicle ‘Locked’ and the Doctor's ‘Open’, allowing the Time Lord to get out. 

“Fifty seconds and counting,” the Master cheers.

“To what?” the Doctor asks.

“Oh, you're going to love this.”

“What is it, hypnotism? Mind control. You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?”

“Oh, that's way too easy. No, no, no. They're not going to think like me, they're going to become me. And, zero!”

A blast of energy moves out from the Master and the Gate, and spreads across the entire planet. Everyone's face becomes blurred except for Donna and Wilfred, and the Doctor and Violet of course.

“You can't have.”

“What is it?” Wilfred demands.

“But they've changed,” Donna’s voice says, coming from the phone in her grandfather’s hand. “Granddad, that's like, like the sort of thing that happened before. My head. Oh, my head! Oh, my head!”

“Doctor? She's starting to remember.” The older man turns and glares at the Master. “What is it? What have you done, you monster? 

“Oh, I'm sorry, are you talking to me?” the Master asks.

“Or to me?” the Naismith-Master asks.

“Or to me?” the woman-Master asks.

“Or to me?” the head of security-Master asks

“Or to us?” the security guard-Masters ask.

“The Human race was always your favourite, Doctor. But now, there is no Human race. There is only the Master race.” The real Master cackles.


	56. 𝟘𝟝𝟚 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟝)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, all.
> 
> So, yeah. I wasn't planning this either...
> 
> \- Chey xo -

Minutes pass, and the Doctor has been bound and gagged, strapped upright to a trolley, by the Guard-Masters, Wilfred has been tied to a chair nearby. Violet, however, is free from restraints as she sits on a cushioned chair, her blue-grey eyes never leaving her father

“Now then, I've got a planet to run,” the Master declares. “Is everybody ready?”

“Six billion, seven hundred and twenty seven million, nine hundred and forty nine thousand three hundred and thirty eight versions of us awaiting orders,” the Naismith-Master informs on a screen.

“This is Washington,” the Obama-Master says on the screen. “As President of the United States, I can transfer all the United Nations protocols to you immediately, putting you in charge of all the Earth's defences. 

“UNIT HQ, Geneva reporting,” the General-Master says on screen. “All under your command, sir. 

“And this is the Central Military Commission here in Beijing, sir, with over two point five million soldiers, sir,” the Chinese-Master informs on screen. “Present arms!”

“Enough soldiers and weapons to turn this planet into a warship,” the Master says with a smile. “Nothing to say, Doctor? What's that? Pardon? Sorry?”

“You let him go, you swine,” Wilfred hisses.

“Oh, your dad's still kicking up a fuss.”

“Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was.”

“Hush, now. Listen to your Master.” His eyes widen in disbelief as a phone rings. “But that's a mobile.”

“Yeah, it's mine,” Wilfred confirms. “Let me turn it off.”

“No, no, no, no, no. I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?”

“It's nobody. I tell you, it's nothing. It's probably one of them ring-back calls.”

The Master searches Wilfred's pockets and finds the revolver. “Ooo, and look at this. Good man!” He tosses it on the floor and gets the phone. “Donna. Who's Donna?”

“She's no one. Just leave it.”

The Time Lord answers the phone and Donna’s panicked voice flies out.

“Gramps, don't hang up,” Donna begs. “You've got to help me. I ran out, but everyone was changing.”

“Who is she?” the Master demands. “Why didn't she change?”

“Gramps, I can't hear you.”

“Well, it was this thing the Doctor did,” Wilfred says. “He did it to her.”

“The Metacrisis,” Violet muses.

“Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls,” the Master spits. “Ugh!”

Violet stays seated as she listens to the Master - her father - order his minions to kill Donna - one of the people she’s grown close to in the past few months. There’s nothing she can do when she hears Wilfred order his granddaughter to get out of wherever she is; to run away. However, she turns to one of the screens behind her and sonics it with her watch, making it show up security footage of the alleyway that Donna is in.

“What do I do?” Donna asks, panicked.

“Run, sweetheart, that's all,” Wilfred replies. “Run for your life!”

Two Master lookalikes block Donna in an alleyway. “There's more of them.”

“Donna? What's happening? Are you still there?”

“They're everywhere.”

“Look, I'm telling you to run, Donna.” There’s desperation in the older male’s voice. “Just run, sweetheart. Just run.”

“It's not just them. I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?”

“Donna, don't think about that. Donna, my love don't!”

“And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter, and hotter!” Golden energy surges from Donna, travelling along the alleyway and knocking down the Chiswick-Masters. “What did I…?” Donna collapses.

“Donna? What was that? Donna? Donna, are you there? Donna.! Donna! Donna!”

The Doctor is smiling when Violet turns around, and he winks cheekily, aggravating the Master. The Master goes over and removes his gag.) 

“That's better. Hello,” the Doctor says. “But really, did you think I'd leave my best friend without a defence mechanism?”

“Doctor?” Wilfred demands. “What happened?”

“She's all right. She's fine, I promise. She'll just sleep.”

“Tell me, where's your TARDIS?” the Master demands

“You could be so wonderful,” the Doctor muses sadly.

“Where is it?”

“You're a genius. You're stone cold brilliant, you are. I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. With a mind like that, we could travel the stars. It would be my honour. Because you don't need to own the universe, just see it. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space. That's ownership enough.”

“Would it stop, then? The noise in my head?” He jabs a finger at Violet. “The noise in her head?”

“I can help.”

“I don't know what I'd be without that noise.”

“I wonder what I'd be, without you.”

“Yeah.”

“What does he mean?” Wilfred asks. “What noise?”

“It began on Gallifrey, as children. Not that you'd call it childhood. More a life of duty,” the Master says distastefully. “Eight years old. I was taken for initiation, to stare into the Untempered Schism.”

“What does that mean?”

“It's a gap in the fabric of reality,” the Doctor supplies. “You can see into the Time Vortex itself.”

“And it hurts,” Violet murmurs, startling both Time Lords.

“They took me there in the dark,” the Master continues, his voice turning crazier by the second. “I looked into time, old man, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums.”

“How do you know it hurts?” the Doctor asks the young girl sitting leisurely on her chair.

Violet’s lips twitch and her eyes darken. “I’ve been to Gallifrey, and I looked into the Schism. I went back before the Time War and spent some time with the Gallifreyans, but that was before the Council of Time Lords found me after one of the times I Regenerated and took me to become a Time Lord.” She absently runs her blunt nails over the flesh of inner left arm. “I was there when you two became Time Lords and I was there at the start of the Time War, but I left when it truly began. I’d heard enough stories to know the devastation it would bring, so I left before I was caught up in it.”


	57. 𝟘𝟝𝟛 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟞)

There’s dead silence in Naismith's study as everyone takes in the full weight of Violet’s words, the Master and the Doctor staring at the younger member of their species with something akin to horror and disbelief, but overall not entirely sure what to think about what they’ve just been told. However, no matter what they think, there’s not enough time to get the full story from her, so they push it to the backs of their minds and continue with what they were doing.

“Listen to it,” the Master pleads. “Listen.”

“Then let's find it,” the Doctor suggests. “You and me.”

“Except. Oh. Oh, wait a minute. Oh, yes. Oh, that's good.”

“What? What is?”

“The noise exists within my head, and now within six billion heads. Everyone on Earth can hear it. Imagine. Oh. Oh, yes.” The Master's skeleton becomes briefly visible again.

“The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying.”

“This body was born out of death. All it can do is die. But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said the end of time.”

“I said something is returning. We were shown a prophecy. That's why I need your help.”

“What if I'm part of it? Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away. From the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. I could find its source. Oh, Doctor. That's what your prophecy was. Me!” He slaps the Doctor. “Where's the TARDIS?”

“No. Just stop. Just think.”

“Kill him,” the blond man barks to a guard, motioning to Wilfred.

A helmeted guard goes over to Wilfred, but Violet notices something odd about them. They’re too tall to be a copy of the Master.

“I need that technology, Doctor. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead.”

“Don't tell him,” Wilfred spits.

“I'll kill him right now!”

The Doctor shakes his head. “Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone dead stupid.”

“Take aim.”

“You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?”

“Like what?”

“That guard is one inch too tall.”

The guard knocks out the Master with his rifle butt, then removes his helmet to reveal a green spiky head - Rossiter. “Oh my God, I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life.”

Green Addams runs in. “Well, come on. We need to get out of here fast.” 

Violet stands and walks over to her father’s prone body, crouching down beside him and staring down at the familiar face that appears to be so innocent. Addams frees Wilfred while Rossiter releases the Doctor.

“God bless the cactuses!” Wilfred declares, making Violet smile.

“That's cacti,” the Doctor replies.

“That's racist,” Rossiter snaps, still struggling with the Doctor’s bindings.

“Come on!” Addams snaps. “We've got to get out.”

“There's too many buckles and straps.”

“Just wheel him.”

“No, no, no. Get me out,” the Doctor protests as Rossiter does just that. “No, no, no, don't. Don't! No, no, no.”

Violet leaves her father’s side and follow the Vinvocci, Wilfred and the Doctor, closing the big doors behind her. She listens as the three aliens bicker between themselves about where they should go, but they all know that the Doctor really has no say due to his current state. They head down the corridor and into the basement, only for the Master to run in with armed guards.

Addams presses her wristwatch and the five of them vanish, leaving the Master and his minions behind. Violet looks around once they’re on solid ground and notes that they’re in the teleport room of a Vinvocci salvager spaceship; a spaceship made from very large round modules that remind Violet of the console room in the TARDIS.

“Now get me out of this thing,” the Doctor demands.

“Don't say thanks, will you,” Addams sasses, undoing the buckles.

“He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get me out!”

Wilfred looks out of a nearby window. “Oh, my goodness me. We're in space!”

Violet smiles and looks out the window, down at planet Earth below them, trillions of galaxies shimmering in the dark depths of space. Despite the peace outside, there’s yelling and chaos inside with the Doctor ordering Addams and Rossiter to get him out of his bindings and off the wheelie. They finally get the Doctor free, and he instantly zaps the teleport controls with his sonic screwdriver.

“Where's your flight deck?” the Doctor demands.

“But we're safe,” Addams says in confusion. “We're a hundred thousand miles above the Earth.”

“And he's got every single missile on the planet ready to fire.”

“Good point.”

Addams, Rossiter and the Doctor run out. The Doctor returns to gently lead Wilfred away from the window, making Violet smile at how caring her husband is of the old man. She follows the two to the flight deck, listening to her husband yelling that they have to close it down, and the Vinvocci reply with their usual “we're going home” and “we're just a salvage team” as well as something about politics having nothing to do with them unless there’s a carnival. The Doctor sonically sabotages the flight controls and the whole spaceship goes dark, making Violet panic.

“Shush, shush, shush, shush, shush, shush,” the Doctor warns.

“No sign of any missiles. No sign of anything,” Addams informs. “You've wrecked the place!”

“The engines are burnt out. All we've got is auxiliary lights,” Rossiter complains. “Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck in orbit.”

“Thanks to you, you idiot!” 

Addams leaves, Rossiter following only moments later, leaving Violet, the Doctor and Wilfred alone on the flight deck.

“I know you, though. I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on. You've always got a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the old Doctor flim-flam-” he does a Tommy Cooper impression- “sort of thing? Eh? Oh, blimey.”


	58. 𝟘𝟝𝟜 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟟)

The Doctor is working on some wiring when he sees a bright object streaking towards the planet.

“Aye, aye,” Wilfred says. “Got this old tub mended?”

“Just trying to fix the heating,” the Doctor murmurs.

“Oh. I've always dreamt of a view like that. Hee, hee. I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. Do you think he changed them, in their graves?”

“I'm sorry.”

“No, not your fault.”

“Isn't it?”

“Oh, 1948, I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was. Stood on this rooftop, in the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to an old man's tales, do you?”

“I'm older than you - we both are.”

“Get away,” Wilfred says, looking between Violet and the Doctor.

“I'm nine hundred and six,” the Doctor says.

Violet makes a strange sound. “I’m around four hundred.”

“What, really, though?” Wilfred asks.

“Yeah,” the Doctor says.

“Nine hundred years… Four hundred years… We must look like insects to you two.”

“I think you look like giants.”

“Listen, I, I want you to have this. I've kept it all this time, and I thought…” Wilf offers his revolver to the Doctor.

“No.”

“No, but if you take it, you could-”

“No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot the Master there and then.”

“Too scared, I suppose.”

“I'd be proud.”

“Of what?”

“If you were my dad.”

“Oh, come on, don't start. But you said, you were told he will knock four times and then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master. That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you.”

“Yeah.”

“Then kill him first.”

“And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm an innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse. I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't.”

“If the Master dies, what happens to all the people?”

“I don't know.”

“Doctor, what happens?”

“The template snaps,” Violet answers for him.

“What, they go back to being human? They're alive, and human. Then don't you dare, sir. Don't you dare put him before them. Now you take this. That's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life. And please don't die. You're the most wonderful man and I don't want you to die.”

“Never,” the Doctor says with a smile.

“A star fell from the sky,” the Master’s voice says, coming through the comm system of the Vinvocci ship. “Don't you want to know where from? Because now it makes sense, Doctor.”

“It's an open broadcast,” Addams warns. “Don't reply, or he'll know where we are.”

“The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond, and the diamond is a Whitepoint Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching, Doctor. This should be spectacular. Over and out.”

“What's he on about? What's he doing?” Wilfred asks, panicking. “Doctor, what does that mean?”

“A Whitepoint star is only found on one planet,” the Doctor tells him. “Gallifrey. Which means it's the Time Lords. The Time Lords are returning.”

“Well, I mean, that's good, isn't it? I mean, that's your people.”

Violet takes Wilfred's revolver and runs with the Doctor as four beat signal begins to beep inside the spaceship, as well as inside Violet’s mind. The Doctor runs into the flight deck, Violet and Wilfred not too far behind the Time Lord. The four beat signal can be heard clearly there, and it makes the cry in Violet’s mind to rise in pitch.

“What's that?” Addams demands.

“Coming from Earth,” Rossiter informs. “It's on every single wavelength.”

The Doctor is rushing around, working on bits and pieces.

“But you said your people were dead,” Wilfred protests. “Past tense.”

“Inside the Time War,” Violet replies, not sure what she should be doing right now. “And the whole War was Timelocked.”

“Like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble but just think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or get out of the Timelock,” the Doctor rambles. “Don't you see? Nothing can get in or get out, except something that was already there.”

“The signal,” Wilfred says, something dawning on him. “Since he was a kid.”

“If they can follow the signal, they can escape before they die.”

“Well, then, big reunion. We'll have a party.”

“There will be no party.”

“But I've heard you talk about your people like they're wonderful.”

“That's how I choose to remember them, the Time Lords of old. But then they went to war. An endless war, and it changed them right to the core. You've seen my enemies, Wilf. The Time Lords are more dangerous than any of them.”

“Time Lords, what lords?” Addams demands. “Anyone want to explain?”

“Right, yes, you. This is a salvage ship, yes? You go trawling the asteroid fields for junk?”

“Yeah, what about it?”

Violet grins widely, knowing what he is planning. “So, you've got asteroid lasers!”

“Yeah, but they're all frazzled,” Rossiter sasses, giving the Doctor an irritated look.

The Doctor throws a lever and two gun alcoves open on either side of the flight controls. “Consider them unfrazzled. You there, what's your name?” He motions to Addams and she replies in a dry tone. “I'm going to need you on navigation.” He turns to Rossiter. “And you, get in the laser-pod. Wilfred.”

“Yeah?” Wilfred asks.

“Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle.”

“This ship can't move,” Addams growls out in exasperation. “It's dead!”

“Fix the heating?” The Doctor throws two levers forward, and the ship powers up.

“But now they can see us.”

“Oh, yes!”

“This is my ship, and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel.”

“There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need.”

“What's that, then?”

“Allons-y!” The Doctor powers the spaceship down towards the Earth and the spaceship dives through the atmosphere. “Come on! Come on!”

“You are blinking, flipping mad.”

“You two. What did I say? Lasers.”

“What for?” Rossiter yells through the comms.

“Because of the missiles,” Violet says in a ‘duh’ voice. “We've got to fight off an entire planet.”

Wilfred and Rossiter take their places in the transparent gunner's domes, and everyone on the flight deck listens to the two talk, Wilfred trying to figure out how the laser guns work. The Doctor skims the ocean, dodging the missiles as Rossiter and Wilfred fire at the oncoming missiles. Wilf shoots down a missile and cheers, making Violet smile. They keep destroying missiles and the front window gets blown in, shattered glass flying everywhere.

“Lock the navigation,” the Doctor orders.

“Onto what?” Addams snarls.

“England. The Naismith mansion.” He runs around. “Destination?”

“Fifty kliks and closing. We've locked on to the house. We are going to stop, though. Doctor? We are going to stop?”

“Doctor?” Wilfred asks, his worry clear through the comms. “Doctor, you said you were going to die.”

“He said what?” Addams exclaims, probably second-guessing him now.

“But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir. But is this it?”

The Doctor pulls the spaceship's nose up at the last moment. Violet then opens a hatch in the floor and, with the revolver ready, jumps down through the glass dome, the Doctor following a moment later. He lands hard on the marble floor beside her. She cannot hold the revolver and he cannot stand up. The five Time Lords have arrived - the Gate has been replaced by a white space with raised up two steps.

“My Lord Doctor. My Lord Master. My Lady Adrenilda,” Rassilon greets. “We are gathered for the end.”

**: : : :**

**"Adrenilda" means "mother of the warrior" in German.**


	59. 𝟘𝟝𝟝 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟠)

“Listen to me,” the Doctor pleads. “You can't!”

“It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child,” Rassilon declares.

“Oh, he's not saving you. Don't you realise what he's doing?”

“Hey, no, hey! That's mine. Hush,” the Master hisses. “Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them, because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Oh, yes, Mister President, sir, standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look as me.”

The Lord President holds up his metal gauntlet. It glows and everyone who looks like the Master goes through the head blur thing again.

“No, no, don't. No, no, stop it! No, no, no, don't!”

Finally, everyone on Earth is restored to themselves.

“On your knees, mankind,” Rassilon orders, and the people obey.

“No, that's fine, that's good, because you said salvation,” the Master says. “I still saved you. Don't forget that.”

“The approach begins.”

“Approach of what?”

“Something is returning. Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone, something.”

“What is it?”

“They're not just bringing back the species,” the Doctor hisses.

“It's Gallifrey,” Violet informs as a big burning planet appears close to the Earth. “Right here, right now.”

Instantly, people begin to panic, screaming and running from Naismith’s study, no longer under the control of the Master. Violet listens to her father plead for some sort of gratitude for bringing the Time Lords and Gallifrey back into existence; in this time. However, Rassilon doesn’t respond, instead giving Violet a somewhat unnerving and hair-raising half-smile.

Wilfred pushes his way in. “Come on, get out of the way. Get out of the way! Doctor? Violet?”

A technician is hammering on the door of his locked glass booth. “Help me, please. Somebody, please.”

“All right! I've got you, mate. I've got you.” Wilfred goes into the open booth.

“Wilf, don't,” the Doctor pleads. “Don't!”

Wilfred unlocks the other booth and the freed technician runs. “I've got you. Come on. Go on.”

“But this is fantastic, isn't it?” the Master exclaims with glee. “The Time Lords restored.”

“You weren't there in the final days of the War. You never saw what was born,” the Doctor says sadly, knowing that his old friend doesn’t know what he’s truly done. “But if the Timelock's broken, then everything's coming through. Not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could-have-been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-weres. The War turned into hell. And that's what you've opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending.”

“My kind of world.”

“Just listen! Because even the Time Lords can't survive that.”

“We will initiate the Final Sanction,” Rassilon decrees. “The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue until it rips the Time Vortex apart.”

“That's suicide,” Violet and the Master say.

“We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone. Free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be.”

“You see now?” the Doctor asks, desperately pleading. “That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them.”

“Then, take me with you, Lord President,” the Master asks. “Let me ascend into glory.”

“You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making,” Rassilon says. “No more.”

The Doctor is on his feet, and Violet is aiming the revolver at the Lord President.

“Choose your enemy well. We are many. The Master is but one.”

“But he's the President,” the Master retorts. “Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours.”

Violet turns and aims at her father, agony in her eyes.

“He's to blame, not me. Oh, the Link is inside my head. Kill me, the Link gets broken, they go back. Go on then, my daughter. Do it.”

Violet aims at the Lord President again.

“Exactly. It's not just me, it's him. He's the Link. Kill him!”

“The final act of your life is murder,” Rassilon says with something akin to delight. “But which one of us?”

Behind the Lord President, one the Women lowers her hands and looks over the Doctor's shoulder. There’s agony in her eyes, and it is then that Violet recognises the woman to be someone who was close to the Doctor during his years on Gallifrey. The Doctor himself appears to be in strife at her appearance as well, and Violet knows what she has to do.

Violet turns back to face the Master. “Get out of the way, father.”

The Master moves and Adrenilda - no longer in the same mental state as “Violet,” so she cannot call herself that in this moment - shoots the Whitepoint diamond in its gizmo. The Link explodes and the Time Lords are sucked away.

“The Link is broken,” the Doctor declares, standing beside his wife. “Back into the Time War, Rassilon. Back into hell.”

“You'll die with me, Doctor,” Rassilon warns. “So will you, Adrenilda.”

“I know.”

Rassilon aims his gauntlet at the Doctor and Violet, who is now quaking where she stands, the revolver hanging by her side in limp fingers as the Woman covers her face again. The Master orders them to get out of the way and the Doctor steps back, pulling Violet with him, as the Master attacks the Lord President with his energy.

“You did this to me! All of my life! You made me!” The blond Time Lord is showing his insanity more than before, and this time it’s directed at the right person. “One! Two! Three! Four!”

Rassilon is forced to his knees, and the Time Lords and the Master disappear in a bright light, Gallifrey fading away from the sky. Violet stares at where she last saw her father with wide eyes that are slowly beginning to fill with burning hot tears and her knees give out, sending her to the marble floor, the revolver skittering across the floor. There’s an emptiness in her head that’s never been there before, and it’s aching, pleading, to have something back.

“I'm alive. I've…” the Doctor trails off in his shock. “There was… I'm still alive.”

 _Knock, knock, knock, knock._  Violet’s stomach falls and she feels her heart skip a beat.  _Knock, knock, knock, knock._  She looks up at the completely broken expression on the Doctor’s face as he realises that he is going to die today.  _Knock, knock, knock, knock._  They both share a heartbroken look.  _Knock, knock, knock, knock._  They both look over to where Wilfred is still locked inside the radiation chamber.

“They gone, then?” Wilfred calls. “Yeah, good-o. If you could let me out?”

“Yeah,” the Doctor confirms.

“Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise.”

“The Master left the Nuclear Bolt running. It's gone into overload.”

“And that's bad, is it?”

“No, because all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All five hundred thousand rads, about to flood that thing.”

“Oh. Well, you'd better let me out, then.”

“Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods. Even this would set it off.” He holds up his sonic screwdriver.

“I'm sorry.”

“Sure.”

“Look, just leave me.”

“Okay, right then, I will. Because you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes. Because that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time.”

“No really, just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor. I've had my time.”

“Well, exactly. Look at you. Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more! But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!” He shoves papers off the desk and they go flying across the room, Violet jumping up from the floor and her feet flying backwards as she moves away from the utterly broken man before her. “Oh. Oh. I've lived too long.”

“No. No, no, please, please don't. No, don't! Please don't! Please!”

“Wilfred, it's my honour. Better be quick. Three, two, one.”

The Doctor quickly goes into the open booth and unlocks Wilfred's side. Wilfred runs out and red light floods the Doctor's booth, making him yell out in pure agony as he gradually curls up into a ball on the floor. Violet watches her husband, wishing she could do something to help him, but knowing that it is much too late for that. Then the power shuts down. After a few moments, the Doctor gets up.

“What?” Wilfred says in shock. “Hello.”

“Hi,” the Doctor replies.

“Still with us?”

“The system's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing's kaput.” He places his hand on the door and it opens. “Oh. Now it opens, yeah.” The Doctor comes out of the booth.

“Well, there we are, then. Safe and sound. Mind you, you're in hell of a state. You've got some battle scars there.”

The Doctor rubs his face and the cuts vanish. Violet squeezes her eyes shut and a sprinkle of tears streak down her face, her hands clenching into fists by her sides. They’re clenched so tightly that her arms begin to tremble at the force and her blunt nails bury themselves into the flesh of her palms.

“But they've…” Wilfred trails off. “Your face. How did you do that?”

“It's started.”

Wilfred hugs the Doctor.


	60. 𝟘𝟝𝟞 ▹ 𝔼𝕟𝕕 𝕠𝕗 𝕋𝕚𝕞𝕖 (ℙ𝕒𝕣𝕥 𝟡)

Not much time passes before the TARDIS is parked outside the Noble's home once again. Sylvia runs to the front door and sees Wilfred and the Doctor come out of the TARDIS, a smile growing on her face. Violet smiles at the monitor and walks over to the door of the blue box, leaning against the entrance and listening to the temporary farewells.

“Oh, she's smiling. As if today wasn't bad enough,” the Doctor teasingly complains. “Anyway, don't go thinking this is goodbye, Wilf. We'll see you again, one more time.”

“What do you mean?” Wilfred demands. “When's that?”

“Just keep looking. We'll be there.”

“Where are you going?”

“To get his reward,” Violet informs with a sad smile before walking back inside the TARDIS.

The Doctor follows her soon after and the Time Rotor is up and running as they head to an abandoned factory where Martha and Mickey Smith are running from explosions; fighting off a Sontaran. Violet stays inside and monitors everything on the screen, a warm smile growing on her face when she sees the two dark-skinned former companions and hears their conversation.

“I told you to stay behind,” Mickey sasses.

“Well, you looked like you needed help,” Martha retorts. “Besides, you're the one who persuaded me to go freelance.”

“Yeah, but we're being fired at by a Sontaran. A dumpling with a gun. And this is no place for a married woman.”

“Well then, You shouldn't have married me.”

A Sontaran - Commander Jask, apparently - is on a catwalk behind them with a clear shot, when the Doctor hits him on the probic vent with a hammer.

“If we go in here and down to the factory floor, and down past that corridor, then he won't know that we're here,” Mickey strategises.

“Mickey.” Martha sees the Doctor on the catwalk. “Mickey.”

“Hey!”

The Doctor waves his farewell to the couple and heads back to the TARDIS. Violet smiles at the loving couple as they hug to the sound of the TARDIS dematerialising only moments later. They head to Bannerman Road - near Sarah Jane’s house - for a farewell of sorts to his oldest surviving companion and her son. Violet watches as the young Luke Smith is on the phone, walking around without paying attention to where he’s going.

“That was the maddest Christmas ever, Clive,” Luke says to Martha’s father on the phone. “Mum still doesn't know what happened. She got Mister Smith to put out this story saying that Wi-Fi went mad all across the world, giving everyone hallucinations. I mean, how else do you explain it? Everyone with a different face-” Luke crosses the road without looking, and the Doctor drags him away from being run down. “But it's you! You're…”

The Doctor walks back to the TARDIS and Luke goes running to Sarah Jane. She hurries to the door and witnesses the Doctor and Violet waving goodbye as they duck back into the familiar blue box. The next actual destination is going to be more hands-on for Violet, and she feels tears stinging her eyes at the thought of who she is about to see.

They park near an alien bar and head inside, noting that it’s complete with Raxacoricofallapatorian, Graske, and a little Adipose. Violet makes her way through the crowd to where Jack Harkness is drinking alone, that Murray Gold song is being sung in the background. He doesn’t notice her approach, too caught up in what appears to be drowning his sorrows, and Violet wonders exactly what has happened, because the immortal man doesn’t drink.

She walks up behind him and slips her arms around his shoulders, her lips brushing his ear. “You’ve let your guard down, Jacky Boy.”

Jack almost jumps out of his skin at her voice, his head snapping around until his reddening baby blue eyes are staring right at her. “Vi, what are you doing here?”

“I came to see you, of course. Why? What’s happened?” It’s then that she remembers what she read in River’s journal. “Oh, Jack. I am so very sorry. I didn’t realise…”

He doesn’t let her finish. He places his drink down, removes her arms from around him and swivels around in his seat, pressing his lips to hers in a kiss she hasn’t felt a certain way about in months. Tears mix into the kiss and Violet pulls away from him, her tongue darting out and catching the tears lacing her lips; the tears that came from both her and Jack.

The barman puts a piece of paper in front of Jack. “From the man over there.”

Jack looks over and sees the Doctor, his blue eyes widening in understanding. “He’s dying. Isn’t he?”

Violet smiles sadly and kisses Jack briefly once more before saying that she’ll see him again and walking over to her second husband, leaving her first to drown his sorrows however he pleases. The paper given to Jack reads “his name is Alonso” in the Doctor’s messy handwriting, and it confuses the immortal until a young man in Edwardian naval uniform sits next to Jack.

Jack salutes the Doctor and winks at Violet then turns to the young man. “So, Alonso, going my way?”

“How do you know my name?” Alonso asks.

“I'm kind of psychic.”

“Really?”

“Yeah.”

“Do you know what I'm thinking right now?”

“Oh, yeah.”

Violet smiles as the singer sings “my bad, bad angel, you put the devil in me” and then she turns and walks out of the alien bar, the Doctor following a step behind her. She’s had her fun for now, and the next stop is all on the Doctor - the daughter of Joan Redfern; the woman he fell in love with when he had to be Human in 1913. She watches everything with a sad smile on her face, knowing the life he - John Smith - gave up to save the world.

He’s not crying when he walks back into the TARDIS, a signed copy of Joan’s life story in hardcover format in his grasp, but Violet knows that he’s remembering the time he was Human. The book is placed on the console as he makes his way around it, pressing buttons, turning knobs and flipping switches as he takes himself and Violet to the tail end of Donna’s wedding. The bells are ringing for the end of a wedding ceremony as Violet and the Doctor leave the TARDIS. Donna and Lee are married, and that’s all that matters.

Violet watches with a smile as they all cheer and photos are taken, her mind remembering the three weddings she’s had in her 400 years alive. Her hand slips into the Doctor’s grasp and she holds it gently, reassuring the man that everything is going to be alright no matter what happens; no matter who he becomes within the next few hours.

Sylvia sees the Doctor, Violet and the TARDIS just outside the lych gate and says something to Wilfred. They go over to them.

“And here you are, eh? Same old face. Didn't I tell you you'd be alright?” Wilfred says with a wide smile. “Oh! They've arrested Mister Naismith. It was on the news. Crimes undisclosed. And his daughter. Both of them, locked up. But I keep thinking, Doctor, there's one thing you never told me. That woman. Who was she?”

“I just wanted to give you this. Wedding present,” the Doctor says, avoiding the question. “Thing is, I never carry money, so I just popped back in time, borrowed a quid off a really lovely man. Geoffrey Noble, his name was. Have it, he said. Have that on me.”

Sylvia is nearly in tears at the mention of the name and Violet gives the older woman a somewhat comforting smile, but it has a bitter, agonising edge to it. It drops seconds later as the two head back over to the rest of the wedding party where photos are still being taken. Wilfred gives the envelope to Donna, who has a bit of a rant about it, but accepts it nonetheless. He turns salutes the Doctor and Violet before they leave.

The final destination makes Violet feel numb, and it’s not just from the snow or the ice cold wind, but from where they are - Powell Estate. It’s near where Rose used to live, and there’s something familiar about this time period to Violet, even though she was only four when this time first came around for her. Both Violet and the Doctor are hidden around a corner as the past version of Rose and her mother talk.

“I'm late now. I've missed it,” Rose complains to her mother. “It's midnight. Mickey's going to be calling me everything. This is your fault.”

“No, it's not. It's Jimbo,” Jackie retorts. “He said he was going to give us a lift, then he said his axle broke. I can't help it.”

“Get rid of him, Mum. He's useless.”

“Listen to you, with a mechanic. Be fair, though. My time of life I'm not going to do much better.”

“Don't be like that. You never know. There could be someone out there.”

“Maybe, one day. Happy New Year.”

“Happy New Year! Don't stay out all night.”

“Try and stop me.”

They walk in opposite directions, Jackie heading back to their mutual apartment, and Rose crossing in front of where Violet and the Doctor are standing. He’s forced to support himself against the icy wall, unable to really stand on his own right now, and Violet is hovering by his side, waiting to see if she needs to help him. Rose turns when she hears the Doctor grunt with pain.

“You all right, mate?” the blonde calls.

“Yeah,” the Doctor replies.

“Too much to drink?”

“Something like that.’

“Maybe it's time you went home.”

“Yeah.”

“Anyway, Happy New Year.”

“And you. What year is this?”

“Blimey, how much have you had? 2005, January the first.”

“2005. Tell you what. I bet you're going to have a really great year.”

“Yeah? See you.” Rose runs off.

The Doctor staggers painfully back towards the TARDIS, Violet helping him, one of his arms around her shoulders as she helps support his weight. Once they’re on board, he moves away from her and hangs his trenchcoat over one of the support beams in the console room. Golden energy streams from his hand and he sets the TARDIS going, flying it up into space.

“I don't want to go,” he says brokenly.

Before she can say anything, the golden energy Regenerates the Doctor, flying from his hands and head and starting a lot of fires in the TARDIS. Violet yelps and wraps her arms around the same support beam he threw his jacket over, eyes trained on one of the people she loves. He turns into a gangly male with a long fringe of hair dangling over one eye.

He pats over his body and tugs on certain appendages. “Legs. I've still got legs. Good. Arms. Hands. Ooo, fingers. Lots of fingers.” He runs his hands over his face, checking everything. “Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose, I've had worse. Chin, blimey.” His fingers run through his hair. “Hair. I'm a girl! No. No. I'm not a girl.” He pulls strands down so he can see the colour of his hair. “And still not ginger. And something else. Something important. I'm, I'm, I'm-”

_Bang!_

“Ha! Crashing!”

The TARDIS is plummeting back down to Earth and he has a wide grin on his face. Violet rolls her eyes and runs to the console, holding on tightly, fingers linked with the new Regeneration of her husband. He looks over at her with bright hazel eyes and his grin widens.

Turning his gaze back to the console, he holds on tightly. “Ha, ha! Whoo hoo hoo! Ah! Geronimo!”


	61. 𝕋𝕙𝕚𝕤 𝕚𝕤 𝕥𝕙𝕖 𝔼𝕟𝕕

**Hey, all!**

**So, this is the end of the first book. I'm not sure when I'm going to have the next book up, but I will have it up as soon as I possibly can.**

**I hope you have all enjoyed reading this book as much as I have enjoyed writing it. Feel free to vote, comment, leave a review, share this story or whatever it is you want to do. Just please do tell me what you think.**

**Just remember that Violet's story isn't over quite yet. We still have the sequel and the prequel to go!**

**I may post a bonus chapter for this story later along the line, and it'll be a long one if it ends up being the episode I'm planning on writing it around.**

**See you all in the next book: "The Man Who Forgets"!**

**\- Chey xo -**


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